How I met Tintin
by Daniella the muggle
Summary: Tintin and the Captain meet an eccentric, but lovely girl nicknamed Jacq. But Jacq is more than meets the eye. Adventure and romance awaits! Please R&R!
1. Prologue

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

The sun rose at Marlinspike Hall as the trees and grass sparkled after a rainy day. The air felt cool and fresh and the birds were singing and dancing through the air. The sound of nature seemed to be calling the people living inside Marlinspike Hall. The door opens and a white-as-snow fox terrier runs anticipated towards the enormous garden. Following the energetic dog walking out the door was a young man, with strawberry blonde hair and a unique and recognisable quiff. "Snowy!" shouted the young man. "Don't run off too far! Captain, are you coming?" asked the young man to his much older friend, who wore the attire of a sea captain.

The sea captain fell off the stairs "OW!"

"Are you alright, Captain?" he said helping him up.

"Blistering Barnacles! It's OK, Tintin. I just tripped! Even with the stairs finally fixed, I keep tripping over it!" Tintin and the Captain then proceeded to take a long stroll, taking advantage of today's beautiful morning.

Tintin, his dog Snowy and his friend Captain Haddock would often get themselves into danger or into a kind of trouble, mystery or adventure. But these were the days in which Tintin wanted to relax from his job as the young reporter, or get away from helping the police to find criminals. Probably it was too relaxing, Tintin thought, as no real adventure had come across them for a long time. Maybe something unexpected will happen like last year. Last year the three of them encountered a secret civilization, and the same year they went to the moon. But he was just a young reporter, everybody else thought. How is he able to get into these kinds of adventures? Suddenly, a postman on his bicycle comes towards them passing through the large gate. "Captain Archibald Haddock?" asked the postman.

"Yes, that's me," said the Captain.

"There's a letter for you." Then the postman left.

"Who is it from?" asked Tintin.

"I don't know… Let's see… BILLIONS OF BLISTERING BLUE BARNACLES!" shouted Captain Haddock running back to the mansion. "Bianca Castafiore is coming to Marlinspike today!"

Bianca Castafiore, the famous opera singer also known as The Milanese Nightingale, was someone the Captain detested. He couldn't stand her operatic singing voice and he couldn't stand the idea of Bianca having a liking for him. She had visited his mansion a few weeks ago and everyone remembers how well he enjoyed THAT visit!

"NESTOR! NESTOR!" called Captain Haddock to his loyal butler. "Yes, sir?" said Nestor in his usual nonchalant voice.

"I'm going away! Far FAR AWAY! Maybe for a week! Maybe for a month!"

"Let me guess. Madame Castafiore is coming to our residence again?"

"EXACTLY! If Castafiore asks about me, tell her I'm in a very long and busy trip!" He said while running towards the mansion in a quick pace. Tintin and Snowy followed him. "I want to pack my things immediately!"

"Yes, sir" said Nestor without changing his expression. Haddock was planning to go to Italy. The main reason he avoided visited Italy was to avoid Bianca Castfiore herself. Now he finally had the chance. Last time he tried to do the same, but failed miserably.

"Tintin! TINTIN!" called Haddock as he pulled out his luggage. "Tintin! Quick! Help me pack my luggage! I wonder where I should go first? Venice or Rome? Maybe Florence?"

Tintin said, "Captain, I know how you're feeling right now, but aren't you being a little too harsh? She is our friend, after all." The Captain pretended to ignore that. Tintin calmly said, "Captain, please. Just try to be nicer around her."

Haddock replied as he stuffed all his belongings into the luggage, "What should I care about her? What has she ever done for us?" Now he started to shove his whisky bottles and other alcoholic beverages into his luggage.

Tintin thought about it and then said, "What about the time when we were in Borduria, and we were hiding from Colonel Sponsz? Bianca helped us escape from him." As hard as it was for Haddock to admit it, in one of their crazy adventures, they DID manage to not only escape from the evil Colonel Sponz, but also find out where their friend was being held capture, thanks to Castafiore. After thinking about it, the Captain said, "I still don't know why she had to come again! At THIS moment! Why did it have to be me? WHY ME?"

Normally Tintin would be asking himself that kind of question. Even before he met Haddock, he'd be stuck in an adventure with his dog or helping out on a case with the police just to get a story or to help someone. These adventures would often be dangerous. Sometimes even life threatening. Sometimes it lead him to being kidnapped or captured by the bad guys. But this young reporter would do whatever it took to help someone, to stop others from doing criminal activities, and most of the time even get a good story out of it. Somehow he was gifted with his bravery and powers of deduction, but also had luck on his side to get through it all. Eventually he met Captain Haddock and he could share his adventures with someone else. But why did these adventures come to him? Why was he always in danger? He didn't know and nobody else knew. All he knew was that he was meant for the job.

Suddenly, the noise from the car outside was heard. "OH CAPTAIN PUTLOCK!" No doubt about it, it was Bianca Castafiore. "Thundering Typhoons! I'm too late!" said Haddock.

Castafiore entered the house with great welcome, except from Captain Haddock. "Oh! Captain Hardback!" said Bianca. "It's HADDOCK!" said the Captain, which Bianca ignored as usual. "I am SO excited to come here and tell you the news!"

"What the news?" asked Tintin.

"I am making a tour! On a cruise ship named _The Voyager_! It's wonderful! The cruise ship has a theatre with various performers. I had the privilege to sing on the cruise for a few months! I just arrived yesterday to Bruges. The cruise will arrive in two days, and I'm starting that very day! So I decided to make a stop by at your mansion and pay a visit to the lovely Tintin and Captain Padlock."

"HADDOCK!" Haddock's face became red as if it were to explode. Castafiore ignored it again.

"And I was also wondering whether you'd like to come and hear me sing? It can be just for a few days on the cruise, or maybe one day. Perhaps you'd like to visit Cherbourg-Octeville in our next stop. Unless you have plans for this week, you can come with me to the ship in three days and I can give you a suite in the ship."

Before Haddock refused anything, Tintin said, "Well, we don't really have any plans. It'd be great to go to a cruise. It'd be my pleasure to hear you sing. What do you say, Captain?"

Haddock knew that Tintin couldn't help but be a gentleman. And Tintin would naturally say yes when given the chance to travel. He was indeed looking forward to something interesting after staying at home for quite a while.

As much as he couldn't stand her singing voice, he didn't want to be rude either. "I'd… love to go". Haddock said with reluctance. "EXCELLENT! Thank you, Captain Clapock! Thank you Tintin! Believe me! You will have the time of your lives!"

As Tintin and Haddock said their goodbyes to Castafiore, she entered her car with her assistant Irma. Tintin said to Haddock "you know, Captain, you could have refused the offer if you really didn't want to come. I could have gone on my own with Snowy."

"NOW YOU TELL ME? Ten thousand thundering typhoons! Why do I have to go along with whatever you say?"

Tintin remembers that in a way this is true. A few months ago Tintin was desperate to save a friend of his named Chang who was probably stuck in the mountains after a terrible plane crash, but Haddock refused to go with him because it seemed too dangerous, and there was a big chance that Chang wasn't even alive. Tintin told him with honesty that he wasn't forcing him to come along and that if he didn't want to risk his life, then he didn't have to come. But Haddock eventually came with him to the snowy and dangerous mountains. And with that they found Tintin's friend, safe and sound. It was a good thing that Tintin had such a loyal friend, not just to join him on an adventure, but to be there for him no matter what.

Tintin's flashback ended with Bianca saying inside her car "Oh goodbye, Tintin! Goodbye Captain Zippock!" Haddock tried to be a little calmer to Tintin's request. "I'll see you soon! OH! I bet both of you are VERY excited to come to the ship and hear me sing!"

Haddock said with big irony, "Believe me. I've already packed my things."

**A/N:** I hope you enjoy my fanfic, and my original character! I'll publish a new chapter every two days, and in the next chapter, you'll be introduced to my new character.


	2. Unexpected visits

**Chapter 2: Unexpected visits**

Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock left Marlinspike Hall with Bianca on the cab, and went to the enormous cruise ship. Everyone was praising Bianca as she entered the cruise ship. Some people were even able to recognize Tintin as he walked by. And what a pleasant surprise! A familiar pair came up to them.

"Hello, Tintin" both detectives said in unison.

"Oh! Why if it isn't Thompson and Thomson! What are you doing here?"

"AH! SHH!" said Thompson. "Right now at the moment we're keeping a low profile,"

"We haven't got time for fun and games, Tintin," said Thomson "We are on a mission."

"A very discrete mission, to be precise."

"We are trying to protect someone from danger."

"Protecting who? Signiora Castafiore?" asked Tintin now curious.

"No! Not at all! We're protecting the Princess, of course!" said Thomson.

"The Princess?" asked Tintin. Thompson said "OH, didn't Madame Castafiore tell you? The Princess of Bordwell, Alexandra Monroe."

"Oh right, I remember now. I read it in the newspapers," said Tintin. "The palace has been taken over and luckily she and The King were out of the country, am I right?"

"Precisely. We were hired to guard her during her trip on the cruise," said Thomson.

"She's on the cruise right now?" asked Tintin.

"Indeed," said Thompson. "She's been on the cruise for a few days now, before the takeover of the palace. Due to unfortunate change of plans, she will be going to a secret location after the cruise."

The Tintin asked, "…So, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be guarding the Princess?" The two of them paused, and looked at each other. "OH DEAR!" they said and ran directly towards the cruise ship. "Sorry, Tintin! We'll see you later!" they said to Tintin. "See you later, gentlemen."

Xxx

Captain Haddock and Tintin were in their room getting ready to go to the theatre. Tintin wore his usual light-brown suit and Captain Haddock wore his black suit. As they entered the large hall outside the theatre, they saw Bianca Castafiore who was surrounded by a few reporters and a few photographers. Haddock, despite looking his best, was not looking forward to her singing. But then he realized that once she was blinded with light in on stage, she wouldn't notice him escape from the dark theatre. That was his plan for tonight! Castafiore left the hall get ready for her performance, as she was the first one to perform that night.

Then, the announcer silenced the large hall. "Ladies and Gentlemen," said the announcer, "with my highest honour and greatest pleasure, I present to you Alexandra Elizabeth Monroe, the Princess of Bordwell". People applauded as the figure entered the room.

Wearing a long light cream-coloured gown walked in a beautiful young girl with dark hair and dark brown eyes, walking with grace and delicateness almost as if she were gliding through the room. Everyone awed at her. Captain Haddock whispered to Tintin "Isn't she beautiful?" People lined up to greet the Princess, one by one. Following the Princess were two large guards behind her and a lady next to her. Tintin and Haddock weren't close enough to greet her. As she went inside the theatre with the guards, everyone else followed her. Right behind the crowd were Thompson and Thomson who had lost themselves on their way to the theatre.

Everyone sat down inside the theatre. The theatre wasn't as big as the usual opera house, but it was quite big for one in cruise ship. Tintin, Snowy and Haddock sat down in the balcony on the left side of the theatre, right below the Princess's balcony, so that they could hear and see Bianca sing loud and clear. Soon, the lights dimmed. "Ladies and Gentlemen. May I present to you, the one and only, the Milanese Nightingale, Bianca Castafiore!"

The curtains opened, the lights were all on Bianca Castafiore with her bright red dress, next to her pianist Wagner. The audience applauded. As soon as the music started and Wagner started playing the piano, Haddock escaped in stealth mode. Nobody, not even Tintin noticed that he had left. Haddock left the room and then Bianca started to sing. Snowy started to howl. Haddock wasn't the only one who couldn't stand her singing voice and Tintin had completely forgotten about it. "Shut up, Snowy," whispered Tintin. The audience was laughing. Luckily Bianca couldn't see them with the bright light, so she didn't notice that Haddock was gone, and she could only hear her voice over the audience's laughter. "That's it, Snowy. If this is how you're going to behave. Captain, I'm gonna take Snowy outside… Captain? Captain?"

The Captain left the theatre as quickly as possible. He screamed with relief. "OH! I'm SAVED! I'm SAVED!" He opened the door to get some fresh air (or at least what he calls drinking a bottle of whisky that he carried along with him). "This is the greatest day of my life!"

But then, before he could take a drink of the bottle…

He saw the Princess of Bordwell… just standing there in front of the ship's balcony, right in front of him. She had just turned around when she heard someone walking out the door.

What do you say in a moment like this? Haddock said "OH! I am so VERY sorry, your majesty."

"Oh no, please, don't apologise," said the Princess with a low, but lovely sounding voice. "You aren't bothering me at all. I believe you escaped the theatre? That's all right. I escaped myself as well. I'm not in a mood for opera now."

"THERE YOU ARE! I FOUND YOU!"

Haddock raised his arms as if someone pointed a gun behind him. But then he realised it was Alexandra's assistant who was looking for her. Alexandra giggled.

"I was so worried about you!" said the assistant walking towards her with two bodyguards.

"I'm so sorry, Mathilde. I was just taking a breath of fresh air."

"Well, YOU missed Castafiore's wonderful performance! And she'll want to see you afterwards..."

"Excuse me, Sir," said Alexandra to Haddock. She whispered something to Mathilde. "Oh I see," said Mathilde. "I'll tell Madame Castafiore later. You should probably go to your room then."

"Sorry, Sir. I'm heading back to my room. I'm awfully tired now. I hope you have a pleasant night."

"... Good night, your majesty," said Haddock. Alexandra walked away with Mathilde and the two bodyguards. Then Tintin and Snowy found the Captain. "Where were you? You can't just run off like that!" Tintin noticed Haddock was staring at someone. Tintin glanced at the Princess from afar. "Was that the Princess of Bordwell?" asked Tintin. Haddock nodded. "Captain, what happened? What was she doing outside?"

Haddock was very silent and slightly confused. "I... talked to her briefly..."

"Really? You did?"

"Aye. She said she escaped the theatre." Haddock was telling the truth, but he didn't believe it himself. Did he really exchange words with such an important person? "Christopher Columbus," he said to himself.

"Come on, Captain," said Tintin, "we better go inside. You can talk about it later."

Haddock went back with Tintin to the theatre, knowing that Castafiore's performance would have finished by the time they came back.

Xxx

After the show was over, they all had dinner at Castafiore's room, which was really large. There was a small balcony outside where you could see the pitch-black night. Castafiore was speaking in a delightful tone while Haddock was trying to drown himself with his champagne hoping he'd get drunk.

"And Princess Alexandra!" said Castafiore "She must have been extremely happy to hear me sing!" She probably didn't notice the Princess leave the theatre either. "It's a shame that she couldn't see me after the performance. I heard she was ill. I couldn't even say hello to her. She would have been pleased to see me again!"

Tintin asked, "You've met Princess Alexandra before, Madam?" The Captain left the table to wonder off in the small balcony with Snowy. "Why yes!" said Bianca in an almost singing voice, "I have performed to her and her family various times! She and her family love opera. Princess Alexandra had told me herself that she would hear me sing a thousand times and never grow tired of it. I wanted to surprise her when I came to the cruise. It's a shame she couldn't come here tonight. I would have introduced you to her."

Tintin thought about it for a bit. The Captain had said that Alexandra wasn't in a mood for opera, but if that's the case, then why did she run off? She didn't really look ill even from a distance. But then he assumed that she was probably very upset about her country and her palace's takeover and didn't want to talk to anyone, even if it meant talking to a close friend.

"Well, at least I had the pleasure of having you and Captain Warlock on the cruise!" said Castafiore. "Oh Captain Kolback! Do be careful to not fall off the balcony." But it was too late. Haddock had fallen off the balcony and fell on top of a band carrying their instruments.

CRASH! "Captain!" shouted Tintin while Snowy barked. Luckily Haddock was unharmed… well, maybe except for the fact that his head was stuck in a tuba. "Billions of Blue Blistering BARNACLES! I can't see!" said Haddock as he ran uncontrollably around with the trumpet over his head. Tintin noticed the Captain was running towards someone. "Captain! Look out!" BANG!

Tintin and Snowy excused themselves to run down the stairs and see if the Captain and the person he ran into were ok. The band members helped Haddock pull out the tuba over his head. "Captain, are you alright?"

"Yes, Tintin. I'm fine. Did I hit anything?" he asked while rubbing his head. Tintin remembered and noticed the girl who was on the ground, putting her hands over her head. "Ow… my head," said the young girl with an American accent. She had dark-brown eyes and a long, dark-brown, big, curly hair. Tintin looked at her and noticed her fairly attractive face. She wore a simple white long-sleeved shirt, and light brown pants. He helped her up.

"Miss, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Nah, I'm fine," said the girl looking up. "I just hit my head. Is the other person ok…?" she looked at Tintin. She gave a surprised look. She observed him carefully. "Excuse me, are you...? Are you Tintin? The reporter?"

"Um... yes."

Her face created a huge grin. "Holy guacamole! You're Tintin!" She stood up and shook Tintin's had energetically. "Hi! I can't believe this! I've heard so much about you! And you're... Captain Haddock! I've heard about you too! I'm so sorry I bumped into you! I hope you're ok, Captain! SNOWY! You're so cute! So what are you all doing here?"

Tintin had never seen such an excited girl before. She spoke so quickly he could barely keep up with what she said. "Well, we were invited to the cruise to see Bianca Castafiore sing. She invited us the other day… hang on a second… may I see your sleeve?"

"What? What about it?" she didn't seem to notice, but her right sleeve had blood on it. "Miss, you're bleeding," said Tintin. "I am? I'm bleeding?" She looked at the side of her right hand and saw a long cut crossing the side of her wrist. Lots of blood was coming out.

"…Yeah, I'm bleeding," she said nonchalantly. Tintin was really surprised to see her so calm about it. "It looks like a big cut!" he said.

"Yeah, but it's no big deal. I'll just add some water, and—OW!" she said now realising that her hand now really did hurt. "How did this happen?" she asked. Tintin noticed the Captain held the broken champagne glass. It must have broken from the fall and when the Captain bumped into the girl he must have accidentally cut her hand with the glass. "Captain, I'm taking her to the infirmary immediately. We don't want it to get worse."

"Mind if I come to? After all, I had my head stuck in a tuba," said Haddock.

They walked to the infirmary and while the nurse was treating her cut on her hand, Captain Haddock had a big bag of ice on his head.

"Are you feeling better, Captain? I'm sorry. If I hadn't moved away, you wouldn't have bumped into me," said the young girl.

"Oh, please, lassie," said Haddock feeling a bit guilty about her hand, "Don't worry about me. I've travelled around the seven seas and no storm or wave can stop the mighty Archibald Haddock. It's yourself you should be worried about now." The girl smiled. "Thanks, Captain."

"Speaking of which," said Tintin, "We still don't know your name."

"Ops! Geesh! Sorry! I didn't introduce myself. My name's Jacq."

"… Isn't that a boy's name?" asked Haddock.

"No, I don't mean 'Jack' as in… 'Jack'. I mean 'Jacq' as a short for…"

"Jacqueline Jones!" said Castafiore as she entered the infirmary with her assistant Irma. "Mamma Mia! I didn't know you were here!"

"Umm… Hi, Madame Castafiore. Nice to see you again."

"Oh I never forget a face. Let me guess. You're staying with Princess Alexandra?"

Tintin looked at Jacq. "Princess Alexandra? Why's that?" asked Tintin.

"Didn't she tell you? She's friends with the Princess," said Castafiore to Tintin.

"You're friends with Alexandra?" asked Tintin. Jacq looked a bit embarrassed.

"Well, technically speaking... She DID introduce me and my parents to Madame Castafiore. I guess that's where the assumption comes from. But really, Alexandra and I only met each other a few times, like two or three times, due to my parents and stuff. I can't say we're really close though. But she's right. I AM staying with Alexandra now. Sorry I didn't tell you this before. Others would make a huge deal out of the fact that I came with her."

"Oh I see," said Tintin. "You don't want to grab too much attention."

"Yeah, exactly." Jacq turned to Madame. "I'm sorry I didn't hear you sing today, Madame. I heard you sang amazingly."

"OH! You don't need to apologise, Jacqueline. It's I who needs to apologise right now! You're in the infirmary, and I didn't acknowledge that! Are you alright, dear?"

"Yeah, I'm good," said Jacq showing the bandage around her hand. Then Catafiore found Haddock hiding behind a curtain this whole time. "Oh no, she saw me" thought Haddock.

"THERE YOU ARE! Poor, POOR Captain Lowsack!"

"It's Haddock, SIGNYOREE CASTER-OILY," he said grinding his teeth. "Captain. Haddock." But as usual, she ignored him and hugged him tightly. "Oh dear Captain Blowback! I came here to see if you were hurt! You look horrible! Let me give you a hug to make you feel better!" Ironically she was hurting him even more. "I should also sing you a song! It'll help you get your strength back!"

"No really…" said Haddock trying to breathe. "I think I'll make a full recovery…"

Tintin stopped her before she could strangle Haddock even harder, and before she could damage his eardrums. "Madam, perhaps it's best if we go to our rooms right now. The Captain was told to sleep after all this."

"Oh, really? Maybe you're right," said Castafiore letting go of the Captain. "But do be careful, Captain Gulftrack. I don't want to see you hurt again." As they all left, Haddock, now breathing properly gave Tintin a "thank you!" look. Tintin decided to walk Jacq back to her room, Snowy tagging along. Now Jacq had the opportunity to talk to Tintin.

"Hey! Thanks a lot, Tintin," said Jacq. "You know… For taking me to the infirmary and walking back with me… all that stuff. Thanks."

"You welcome, Jacqueline."

"It's ok, Tintin. You can call me Jacq for short."

"Alright, Jacq."

She whispered to herself, "wow... this is unbelievable. I'm talking to Tintin!"

"So tell me. You seem to be very excited to see me."

"Well, you're famous aren't you?"

"Yes, but I'm just curious," Tintin said. "I've never seen someone so happy around us. Is there a reason for that? Or are you just very energetic?"

Jacq started to blush, but felt like she needed to be honest. "Can you promise not to laugh?"

"I promise."

"Well …OK, where do I start?... So a few years ago, my parents and I read this article about you in an American newspaper, and I found it fascinating. I loved the way you wrote the story and the fact that it was you who got rid of the gangsters in the Congo and in Chicago!" Tintin had remembered that after he stopped the gangsters in Chicago, he wrote the article for his newspaper, but was also asked to send the article to a big American newspaper.

Jacq continued, "It was hard to believe it at first, but then my parents found out that you wrote more articles in this newspaper in Belgium, and that you went on all these adventures and helping out with the police. They're novelists, so they found lots of inspiration in your stories. They didn't copy the events, but your stories were still very inspiring. They sent me some of the newspapers whenever they found an interesting article written by or about you. They were like reading novels! I never had so much fun reading newspaper articles! I wish I could write like that! Reading those articles I felt like I was part of those adventures with you and Captain Haddock!" Snowy barked "Oh yeah! And Snowy too! Mind if I carry him?"

"Go ahead." As Jacq held Snowy around her arms and softly stroked the dog, Tintin felt a bit embarrassed. Yes, there were people he encountered who have heard about him and loved what he did, but never did someone admire his work THIS much. Jacq said as she held Snowy, "And if there was anything else about you, I'd ask my parents to keep me informed about anything you did. I can't really call myself a fanatic, but I've always enjoyed reading your articles or anything else about you. So how do you do it? How do you write so well? And how do you get into these kinds of adventures?"

"Me? I don't know. I just like writing articles in the newspapers," he said to her. "I just try to get the story and I write about it... As much as someone needs to know... there's not much to it. I love my job. As for the adventures themselves… You could just call me lucky… or unlucky. I can't decide." Jacq started to smile. "What is it?" asked Tintin.

"Nah, nothing," she said looking even more happy. "I just can't wait to tell my parents about this!"

They arrived at her room where the two guards were guarding the doors. Apparently, she shared the same room with the Princess. "Anyway, thanks for everything, Tintin. It was great to meet you!" she said and put Snowy back on the floor. "The pleasure's all mine. And take care, alright?" said Tintin referring to her hand. He took her hand and kissed it like a gentleman. They said their goodbyes, and Jacq entered her room.

Tintin and Snowy walked back to their rooms. "Quite a nice girl, hey Snowy?" Snowy barked in approval. Then they walked past someone hiding from them, but Tintin didn't seem to notice. The figure followed them. Snowy growled back at the figure. "What is it, Snowy?" asked Tintin. Before he could turn his head back, he felt something hard hit him on the back of the head. He fell to the floor as he fell unconscious.

**A/N** OOHHH! A cliffhanger! Seriously though, you can't have a Tintin story without having him either one of these things: hit in the head, unconscious, kidnapped, captured, blamed for a crime, life threatened. You sorta see this coming a mile away.

Special thanks to **Pink-Pencil-Girl303** and **Galad Estel** for feedbacks and pointing out some important points in the first chapter. Also thanks to **TigerBlack62** for also commenting! Please comment or review! And if there's anything that you pointed out and I missed, like a flaw or something you want to criticise, then please do tell me. I'm open to any criticism!

From what you read from the first chapter, it's quite established that this is after the events of _The Castafiore Emerald_.


	3. Another adventure begins

**Chapter 3: Another adventure begins**

Tintin woke up. His head was pounding and the rest of his body ached as he tried to make sense out of his surroundings. He heard something…

_Il s'est r__é__veill__é__! Venez!_

He was now surrounded by unknown people. They looked like the crew of some boat.

"Are you alright, Monsieur?" said one of the men in a thick French accent.

"I think… where am I?" asked Tintin. He looked around and realised that he was on a small bed in a cabin. The people around him must have been the crew of the ship.

"Don't worry, Monsieur. You and your dog were inside a crate in the water and we took you out last night. We found the crate just floating around, we took it out of the water and we found you and your dog inside." This wasn't the first time Tintin was put inside a crate or even thrown into the ocean and he still didn't like the idea of any of those. They showed Snowy who was covered in a blanket and being held by someone and passed him to Tintin. Snowy licked Tintin's face to show he was good as always. "We checked to see if your dog was injured, but he seems to be in good shape. Does anything hurt you?"

The captain of the boat went up to Tintin and asked him in his thick French accent "Young man. I'm glad you're well. I am Captain Christophe of _The Fleece_. What's your name?"

"Thank you, Captain Christophe. I'm Tintin," he said.

"Anything we can help you in? You must have gotten into some kind of trouble for you to end up floating in the water! Do you remember anything?" he asked.

"Oh right! I remember! I was on a cruise ship and then I felt something hit me from behind," said Tintin hoping he wasn't unconscious for too long. The more Tintin thought about it, whoever hit him probably saw him as a threat of some sort and it might have had to do with Princess Alexandra. There was the possibility that someone really was going to kidnap the Princess. But then Tintin realised something. "Hang on! Where am I? What time is it?" he asked Captain Christophe.

"Well, our ship is returning to France, if that's any helpful. And it's about 1:30pm right now."

"THAT LONG?" thought Tintin.

"Look. There we are right now," said Christophe pointing towards the shore from the window. It seemed quite far from where they were but Tintin could spot the cruise, _The Voyager_, from there. He went out of his bed and asked, "Sir, I need to get to that ship as quickly as possible. Do you mind if you take me there?"

"It'd be my pleasure," he said.

The ship went towards the pier and as soon as they reached the place Tintin and Snowy jumped off and ran towards the ship. Of course, not before saying thank you to Captain Christophe and his men. He reached the place and found Captain Haddock and the detectives together outside _The Voyager_.

"Captain!"

"Aye, Tintin!" said Haddock, "We couldn't find you anywhere! Wondering off without us?"

"No, Captain, I returned on another ship. Someone threw me into the ocean last night and I think it has to do with Princess Alexandra," said Tintin. Haddock bought the story rather quickly. By this time, it's really no surprise to hear him say something like 'someone attacked me today!' or 'I've been kidnapped!'

"Thompson and Thomson! Where's the Princess?"

"Oh why, she left about a while ago," said Thompson.

"To be precise, about an while ago she left. She was escorted by other men who took her to the hotel," said Thomson.

"And she'll be taken to a private plane tonight."

Tintin asked them "Do you know if she arrived at the hotel safely?"

"Well, she should have arrived there about half an hour ago, but we need to confirm it."

"Call the hotel now. It's urgent," said Tintin, making people notice him raising his voice.

The detectives called the hotel and came back with the news. "Tintin, you're right. Princess Alexandra isn't there," said Thompson.

"But they're probably just late from traffic or from some road diversion," said Thomson.

"We need to get to the hotel anyway. She forgot one of her luggages inside her room."

"May we accompany you, gentlemen?" asked Tintin.

"If you'd like to, of course," said Thompson. They went to the car and soon arrived at the hotel. They talked to the receptionist and they found out Alexandra hadn't arrived yet. Was Tintin right about Alexandra?

Suddenly, a police car parked in front of the hotel. There were two policemen and someone else who ran out of the car. It was Mathilde. Princess Alexandra's assistant. She ran towards the detectives. "Please… please…" she said trying to catch her breath.

"Mam', what's wrong? What happened?" asked Thompson.

"I-I… Alexandra… she's… she's…"

"Mam', please. Try to breath normally," said Thomson.

"She's been kidnapped!"

Everyone in the lobby heard Mathilde screaming at the top of her lungs. The police tried to convince them that there was nothing to hear. They didn't want any scandal.

They offered her a seat, and asked her to explain the situation. Mathilde was shaking in fear. "The men… the men who escorted us… those three men weren't the real escorts. I noticed we weren't going the right way. We all arrived at a pier and these men had told us that we were being taken to a different destination. But Alexandra suspected as well that they were lying. So we tried to escape, but they captured Alexandra and knocked out our two guards. She told me to run and search for help… and with great difficulty I escaped… but Alexandra's probably still with them…" Mathilde started to sob.

One of the policemen said, "We found Madame running towards us and telling us that the Princess of Bordwell had been kidnapped, but we couldn't confirm her story. So she asked us to bring her to you to confirm the story. We found out that you had arrived at the hotel and found you here."

"But the ship could be far gone by this time… Alexandra is..." sobbed Mathilde. The other policeman tried to comfort her.

Tintin suddenly felt something strange… there was something wrong with the story… It sounded reasonable enough, but something there was missing… a clue? Or perhaps something left out? "Mam'," asked Tintin. "Do you know the name of the ship?"

"Well..." she tried to speak and think properly. "I could be wrong... but I think that the ship is called _La Novia_ and I remember a bright red plane on top of it... Oh no! It's one of them! They're looking for me!" said Mathilde who noticed outside and hid behind the officers. Everyone saw a tall French man with raven hair searching for someone. "Are you sure it is, Madam?" asked one of the police officers.

"I'm sure."

"Well then, we should probably make sure he really is a kidnapper. We don't want to make any mistake," said Thompson.

"Precisely, Thompson," said Thomson. The two police officers hid Mathilde inside the hotel. The two detectives, Tintin and Haddock walked outside. Tintin and Haddock stood nearby listening to their conversation. The detectives said to the French man. "Excuse me, sir? I'm Thompson."

"And Thomson."

"We're detectives," they said in unison.

The French man asked "Is there a problem, detectives?" as if nothing happened.

"No, nothing. We just want to ask you a few questions," said Thompson.

"We're carrying out a vey discrete investigation."

"Precisely. Discrete it is."

The French men calmly said, "Very well. What do you want to know?"

"DID YOU KIDNAP A PRINCESS?" they said in unison.

Tintin and Haddock face-palmed themselves.

"_Pardon?_" asked the French man.

"Sorry, sir," said Thomson. "It just looked like you knew something about a kidnapping."

"No, nothing at all, Monsieur," said the French man. "I'm sorry. And I'm quite certain I do not know anything about a... Princess... I'm just wondering around the city."

"Just wondering around?" asked Thompson. "It looked like you were searching for something."

"Searching? No. Nothing at all. Now if you excuse me, I shall be leaving..."

Then, the French man's comrade, a shorter man, with bright blonde hair, ran towards him and screamed. "HEY! Maynard! Did you find the old lady yet?"

The French man turned to his comrade angrily. "Hugo! You idiot!"

Thompson said, "Hang on. You said you weren't looking for anything."

"Sorry Sir, but you'll have to- HEY! STOP!"

Maynard grabbed Hugo by the arm and they ran away from the detectives. But before these men could escape, Tintin and Haddock appeared and made them trip over. The policemen came and handcuffed the two French men.

They took Maynard and Hugo to the police station immediately to interrogate them. They found out that these two really did want to try to kill Mathilde before she could say anything. However, the police found no ship called _La Novia_ and the men refused to them anything else about the ship carrying Alexandra.

"I want to know one thing only. Where is the ship?" said the officer.

Maynard said "Do we look like idiots to you? You can ask us anything you like, but we are not saying anything at all-"

"_La Novia_'s called _Saint Marie Louise_ now! They changed the ship's name midway through the journey!" he said crying like a maniac.

"HUGO! YOU IDIOT!" shouted Maynard.

"I don't wanna be here! I just wanna go home!"

Xxx

A few hours later, the men managed to track down _La Novia_, which its name changed to _Saint Marie Louise_. It was after the sun set by that time of day and the sky was getting quite dark. The ship had stopped by a pier a few miles East. Taking a plane to the location, they found the pier, and found the large ship with the red plane on it away from the pier.

Haddock looked through the binoculars, and saw that there was the L-flag raised. "Look Tintin," he said passing the binoculars to Tintin. "Quarantined!" They all knew that the flag was put up so that no one would be able to enter the ship. Or at least that was the most probable assumption. Over a year ago, another ship did exactly the same thing to hide their kidnapped friend.

"There's one way to find out. Let's go," said Tintin. Tintin, Snowy and Haddock took a motorboat (but rowed the boat to not make any noise) while Thompson and Thomson were waiting for them in another pier. They hid the boat behind another ship nearby, and Tintin went into the water. "Captain, if I don't come back within an hour, call the police." Then Tintin swam towards the ship to rescue the princess. While Haddock waited in the boat with Snowy, he asked the dog "Aren't you getting Déjà vu? I've been getting that a lot since I hung out with Tintin."

Snowy thought in his head "Believe me, I got used to that a long time ago."

Tintin managed to get on the ship without being caught. He tried to avoid the members of the crew. Nobody seemed like they were sick or even mention anyone unhealthy. They were right about the flag, just like last time.

As he was trying to get across some crew members, he saw some men fixing the red plane. He was trying to be as quiet as possible despite freezing from the water. He managed to pass by some guards, until he reached a round window and then he overheard a conversation through it.

"So Princess! I didn't know you could punch like that. For such a graceful person," said a man.

"Where am I? Where have you taken me?" It was Princess Alexandra's voice.

"It's none of your business. We won't stay here for long anyway. You. Guard the door."

"Where's Mathilde? Don't you DARE harm her, you hear me? LEAVE HER ALONE!"

There it was again… Tintin couldn't put his finger on it, but there was that thought that went through his mind again. What was wrong with what Alexandra just said? Why was it similar to what Mathilde said much earlier that day?

"I'll never forgive you if you harm her-!" they covered her mouth before she could continue screaming. The door of the cabin slammed shut. Then two men passed by and Tintin quickly hid from them before he got caught. He managed to get inside the ship and then find where Princess Alexandra was being hidden. The door of that cabin was being guarded by a mean looking man. At the right moment, Tintin knocked down the guard and took away his gun and the keys to the door.

Tintin opened it and found Alexandra tied up to a pole in the room with a scarf over her mouth. She looked up and saw Tintin. She gasped. He went towards her and used his knife to cut through her ropes.

"Don't be afraid. I'm here to get you out of here. My name is Tintin. Are you alright, Princess?" he said and took off the scarf that covered her mouth.

"Yes, I'm fine! How did you find me?"

"I'll explain later! But now we must get out of here and quick!" He set her free, and they left the room. They tried to hide themselves from anyone passing by. Then they saw two men talking to each other.

"And the boy?"

"I took care of him. I felt that this Tintin was a real threat to the mission when I saw him on the cruise. Interpol probably hired him to help out."

"Well done, Harry. But getting rid of Tintin isn't enough. We need to take the Princess to the boss. We'll take off in the morning."

Tintin and Alexandra hid themselves.

"What about Mathilde? Did you find her?" she whispered to him.

He whispered looking at her. "Don't worry. Mathilde is fine. She came to us safe and sound and—"

THEN it hit him! He had just realised what was wrong this whole time. "Where's Jacq?" he asked her in a low voice.

"What?"

"Jacqueline Jones! Your friend! She was with you on the cruise! Did she come with you? Where is she?" How did he not realise it? Mathilde had mentioned that they all entered the car, but she did not mention the friend. The Princess shouted out for her assistant's name, but not her friend's name.

Alexandra said, "Jacq? Oh, she left the ship in the morning. She didn't come with us to the car, because she decided to go somewhere else when she arrived to France. Why do you ask?"

Alexandra didn't look suspicious. She didn't seem to be lying and her answer seemed reasonable and straightforward. But when he looked at her face, something else really bothered him, but he didn't know what. "Oh... never mind, then," he said. "Come on. Let's go quickly."

They reached the outside of the ship, and tried to get through the men that were in front.

"THE GIRL! SHE'S ESCAPED!"

The man behind them grabbed Alexandra's arm. "AH! TINTIN!" Tintin punched the guy away and the man pulled off her glove as he fell over some stairs. The men from afar were now going to chase them. Tintin and Alexandra ran as quickly as they could. They heard gunshots from behind. "NO! Don't shoot the girl!" said the voice behind them.

"Crumbs!" said Tintin, "They're catching onto us! Sorry, Princess! Do you know how to swim?"

"Yes! Why do you ask?"

"Do you trust me?"

"...Of course. Why?"

"Because we're going to jump into the water!"

"Jump?"

"JUMP!" Tintin grabbed her hand tightly and they jumped into the water. Alexandra held her breath as much as she could. They dove into the water and saw the bullets come through the surface.

"I said no shooting!" said the man. They held their fire, and searched through the water. "Where are they?"

"You idiots! Use the light!"

Under the water, Tintin and Alexandra quickly swam away from the ship before the light could hit them. They went up the surface and reached Captain Haddock just in time.

"Tintin! OH! The Princess!" said Haddock helping them both up the boat. They carefully left on the motorboat without being caught. "Remember me? Never fear, Princess. You're safe with us!"

Haddock turned on the engine towards the pier where Thompson and Thomson were waiting for them. Tintin and Alexandra were shivering from the freezing water. "Sorry, I forgot to bring a towel," said Tintin. Tintin checked to see if the man who had grabbed her injured her hand.

"Here. That man didn't hurt you, did he?" said Tintin. But then… he felt something. It was dark so he couldn't see it properly, but he felt something around her hand. He didn't have time to notice her hand when he held it last time, because they were escaping the bad guys. But now he was able to notice it… it was a bandage. A bandage?

A light from another ship then hit them. Tintin was able to see it clearer now. It really was a bandage. And at the side of it was covered in blood. Tintin saw it. It was the same as yesterday. The exact same band on the exact same cut on the exact same hand. He looked at Alexandra…

"Great Snakes! No, that can't be true…" he thought to himself.

"What is it?" she said as if nothing happened and still shivering from the cold.

This really was unbelievable… It's not that Tintin didn't want to believe it, but it was hard to believe it. Was Alexandra disguising herself as her friend?

"How can that be?" Tintin thought. They couldn't have been the same person! They're entirely different! When he thought about it, it's true that they did share a lot of physical features, so they did look slightly alike. Sure, the princess wore make-up unlike the friend and their hairstyles were entirely different. But it wasn't just hair and make-up. The Princess acted gracefully and softly, while the friend was bubbly and active. Almost entire opposites! How could they be one and the same?

But the were more questions that went through his mind. Was Jacqueline Jones a made-up person? No, Jacq wasn't made-up. Castafiore had apparently met both of them in the same place at the same time. And how could a Princess manage to pull off this kind of disguise in the first place? WHY did Alexandra disguise herself in the first place?

"Is there something wrong, Mr. Tintin?" asked Alexandra.

"I'm fine… I think," said Tintin still looking very surprised and confused.

They reached the pier and he let go of her hand.

"Well done, Tintin! You found her! And she's safe and sound!" said Thompson.

"Sound and safe, to be precise," said Thomson.

She went inside the car, still shivering from the cold water. They gave her a towel to dry herself and a warm blanket. "Its ok, now. You're safe," said Tintin.

Before he left her in the car she said "Tintin… thanks… for saving my life. Thank you very much." And she smiled at him.

As Tintin was drying himself from the water, the detectives decided to bring up something they just found out.

"Speaking of which, Tintin," said Thompson, "it turns out this luggage doesn't belong to either Alexandra or her assistant."

"To be precise, it's neither Alexandra's nor her assistant's luggage. It accidentally opened and we found someone else's passport and clothes. If you're returning to the cruise, would you mind returning it?"

Tintin had a thought in his mind. "May I see the luggage, please?"

The detectives gave it to him and he saw a passport inside. It was an American passport and inside was written 'Jacqueline Jones' on it. It had a picture of the same girl they just saw the other night. Dark-brown eyes. Dark-brown, long, big, curly hair. He observed the passport carefully. It was definitely real.

"I see now… Detectives. You don't mind if I joined you to protect Alexandra, would you? I'd like to offer some of my help."

Xxx

Tintin told Haddock that he didn't need to join him to protect Alexandra, but it was either that or go back to the cruise to see Castafiore again. Tintin and Haddock offered themselves to replace the two guards who were knocked out while saving Princess Alexandra and Interpol granted their permission after they heard about the Princess's rescue. They had also received news that the original escorts had been attacked as well. So Thompson and Thomson also volunteered to take her to the private plane as the new escorts. They drove off and arrived at the plane. Inside the plane Alexandra was left alone to sleep after such a difficult day.

The plane was headed towards the South of France and they were going to a military base. They didn't know where the Princess would be going from then on, but they heard that the Lieutenant would tell them immediately when they arrived. And there they would meet up with Mathilde who was sent there earlier on a different plane.

Tintin gave a report to the Thom(p)sons that night. But while he talked to the detectives he looked at Alexandra sleeping. Were Jacq and Alexandra, two VERY different people, indeed the same person? In fact, was she actually Jacqueline Jones? Tintin took the night to sleep it off so that he'd think about it later the next day.

**A/N** Thanks to **MissGuardianAngel**, **Galad Estel**, **Pink-Pencil-Girl303**, and **TigerBlack62** for reviewing! Speaking of which, I made the ship called _Saint Marie Louise_. Marie Louise is Herge's old girlfriend's name that Herge named Snowy after. (Snowy's original name is Milou and a nickname for Marie Louise.) What was an absolute coincidence was that the ship's original name was _La Novia_. In Spanish that means "the girlfriend". I swear. THAT was a coincidence.

**UPSETTING NEWS:** I noticed something that I didn't like in my fanfic, and unfortunately after I upload chapter 4, I'm gonna postpone the next chapters for a few more days than planned. I'm also postponing due to some other things, like university, but mainly because of something I'd like to rewrite. Don't worry! I'll be back very soon, so please be patient. I hope you enjoyed chapter 3, and I hope you enjoy the next chapter where we find out a bit more about Jacq.  
>Please comment and review! (I accept criticism too)<p> 


	4. Master of acting

**Chapter 4: Master of acting**

The next morning in the plane, Tintin woke up and stretched himself. The others were still asleep… except for Alexandra... or was she really who she said she was? He went up to her and checked to see if she was ok.

"Good morning, Princess," he said as he sat down next to her.

"Good morning Tintin…" she said silently. Tintin tried to comfort her. "Are you feeling ok?"

"Yes, no worries," she said still gazing outside the window. She didn't look too worried anymore. Tintin held her hand. It was time he found out. He said in a comforting tone, "I don't want to scare you or anything. I just want to ask you something: are you not the real Princess?" She looked at him. "Can you tell me the truth? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Tintin gave a friendly smile. With her feeling safe around him, she gave up the act. She gave a big sigh. "I'm so sorry…" she said with an American accent and a different voice. Even her posture and look changed a bit. "I really didn't want to lie to you, but I had to. If I broke the act, then who knows what'll happen to Alexandra? I really—"

"It's ok. You're safe here. Don't worry. I didn't tell anyone here," he said with a forgiving nature.

"I will tell them. When we get to the military base in France. Lieutenant Hansen knows that I'm not the real Alexandra. Even Mathilde knows."

"I see. So you're Jacq Jones."

"The exact one. I wasn't lying when I said I was Jacq. I wasn't pretending to be someone else. You have to believe me. Ask Mathilde! But if I hurt you or offend you in any sort of way, then I'm really REALLY sorry," she was speaking very quickly.

"Relax!" he said smiling. "I forgive you! You didn't offend me at all. You did this to protect Alexandra, did you? Then it's ok. I completely understand."

She smiled in relief. "Well, I'm sorry anyway... So... how exactly did you find out I wasn't Alexandra? It couldn't just have been the bandage around my hand."

"Well, at first I suspected that you were Alexandra and you probably disguised yourself as Jacqueline Jones. But then with your luggage, I figured out that it was the other way around. What person travels and forgets all their belongings?"

"Oh yeah, my luggage. I must have forgotten it. I left it behind my bed, but it was pretty well hidden... Thanks for finding my stuff."

"Now that I think about it… did you skip Castafiore's performance because you thought that she'd recognise you?"

"Yeah. I didn't know she was coming and when I found out she was on the cruise I thought that she would've seen right through me me. As close as I look like Alexandra, we look pretty different, even with my make-up on. Believe me, Alexandra's MUCH more stunning and I'm… well, I'm me."

"Well, you really DID act like a Princess right there. How did you do it? I mean it wasn't just hair and make-up. You were so convincing. I honestly couldn't put two and two together that you were the same person!" Tintin had wanted to ask her this since last night.

"Well, they asked me to do this for two reasons: because I looked like her and because I'm an actress."

"Oh, so you're an actress? You're very talented."

"Thanks..."

"Tell me, Jacq. How long have you been acting for?"

"Eh, just a few years ago. In movies."

"Oh. Do you work in any big movie studio? Have you acted in any big role?" By this point, Tintin was starting to feel like he was interviewing someone.

"Um... big studio, yes. Big roles, nope. I work as an extra in films," she said modestly.

"An extra? But then-?" But before Tintin could finish his question, the rest of the people on the plane woke up. Jacq went back to act as Alexandra and Tintin was just going to have to ask her later.

Xxx

The plane arrived at the South of France later that day and the cars were waiting for them outside the airport to escort them to the military base. As the five of them and Snowy entered the base to see Lieutenant Hansen, they presented the Princess to him. Mathilde entered the room and hugged Jacq. Jacq stood in front of Lieutenant Hansen in his office with the others behind her.

"Lieutenant," said Jacq gracefully.

"Alexandra… it's been a long time…"

"Yes, it has."

"And these men were good escorts?"

"Yes. They were also great company."

The Lieutenant looked at her for a moment. "May I take a look at you?"

Everyone, except Tintin and Mathilde, looked confused. Tintin had an idea of what Lieutenant Hansen intended to say. Jacq turned around slowly. The Lieutenant spoke, "I see… you do look a lot like Alexandra. Not exactly the same as her, but you are quite close. But in terms of her mannerisms, they're identical. King William was right about you. You are an outstanding actress. I don't know anyone else who's as graceful as Alexandra."

The Thom(p)sons looked at each other. The Captain looked at Tintin. They were all thinking the same thing: "What's going on?"

"I know Mathilde knows about you already," said the Lieutenant. "And the men behind you… do they know?"

Jacq spoke as herself now. "Only Tintin does. The rest don't." She turned around to look at the Thom(p)sons. "My real name is Jacqueline Jones. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I promised the King that I wouldn't tell anyone." She looked at the Captain, "Hey Captain. I'm sorry too. I needed to protect the real Alexandra."

The Captain's jaw dropped. "Billions of Blue Blistering BARNACLES! Tintin, that's-"

"Yes."

"… Was she really-?

"Yes"

"Did she tell you?"

"Yes."

"… How did she-? How did you-?"

"Captain, I'll explain later."

"Ok."

The Thom(p)sons took a while to think about it, but then tried to accept this. "Well… It was probably safer that way…" said Thomson.

"That is to say, that way it would have probably been safer," said Thompson. "But if you aren't the real Princess, what about the real one?"

"She's safe," said Mathilde, "Somewhere else far from here. The King saw the attack of the palace ahead of time, knowing Alexandra would be in danger, so they left the country just in time. They asked Miss Jones to act as a diversion and she was kind enough to offer her help. Then whoever was trying to threaten Alexandra would follow and take the wrong lead."

"The only problem was that despite them following our trail, things didn't go according to plan," said Jacq. "We didn't expect them to kidnap me in the end."

"And do you know where Alexandra is?" asked Thomson.

"Nope. None of us know. I think it's safer that way," said Jacq.

The Lieutenant spoke "So, Miss Jones. I heard about what happened the other day. Are you sure that you're feeling well? Do you still want to leave the military base? You don't want to be under the witness protection programme like Mathilde?"

"Nah, it's ok. Now that I don't have to be in disguise from this point onwards, I was planning to leave and go on holiday. Besides, whoever the men are behind all this are't following me. They're following Alexandra. They're taking the wrong lead at the moment, so both Alexandra and I are safe."

"Where are you planning to go?" asked Tintin.

"To India. For holiday. I think it'd be fun," said Jacq. Tintin saw the look on her face. She didn't seem to be too excited as he saw her last time. "Anyway, I better take off my disguise. I think I'll leave tonight."

Xxx

Tintin and Haddock waited to see Jacq. They sat down on a small table on the terrace of the military base and Snowy was sitting on top of Tintin's lap. Suddenly Tintin realised something important "Crumbs! How could I forget? We left without saying goodbye to Madame Castafiore! We didn't even let her know where we went!"

"Oh it just slipped your mind," said Haddock. He was glad that he didn't have to see her again. Tintin gave him a look. "Oh come on! Tintin! I don't think she's a horrible person." The Captain grew an angry look on his face. "But Thundering Typhoons, if I ever hear her voice again, I will-"

"OH CAPTAIN HALLOCK!" they heard a familiar voice of an Italian opera singer from inside the building.

"Christopher Columbus! Don't tell me!" said the Captain to Tintin. Was that really Bianca Castafiore they heard behind the door? It was the same operatic voice. There was no doubt about it!

"OH MADONNA! I heard that you went to the South of France and you hadn't invited me! You didn't even say goodbye! So I came here to surprise you both!"

The Captain was shaking and biting his nails in fear. Then the figure appeared in front of them.

It was Jacq, in her regular clothes, smiling. "Surprise."

Both of them fell silent and then Jacq bursted out laughing. "OH GEESH! I can't believe you fell for that! AHAHAHA! You should have seen the look on your faces! It was just hilarious!" She fell down to the third chair near the table still laughing quite hard.

The Captain didn't seem too happy, but Tintin actually started to smile. "Wait a minute! Was that really you?" Jacq changed into her operatic Italian-accent voice "Absolutely!" she continued laughing.

Tintin said, "WOW! I had actually thought that Bianca Castafiore had followed us somehow!" she stopped laughing and Tintin said, "You see? I knew it! You really are a great actress!"

"A bit too good for me," said Haddock still annoyed.

"Sorry, Captain," said Jacq smiling.

Tintin said "Say, you think you can make another performance for us?"

"Yeah, sure! How about if I act as someone you know, and you guess who it is?"

"Yeah, that'll be fine!" said Tintin.

Her posture changed and her attitude changed. It was almost like someone else now. "Ah! Gentlemen. I believe we have found the main suspect of the crime!" she stepped to the other side of the terrace. "To be precise, the main suspect of the crime has been found!" she stepped back to the other side, "Indeed."

"Thompson and Thomson!" said Tintin.

"To be precise, Thompson with a 'P' as in 'psychology'," she stepped to the side "And Thompson without a 'P'! We're police officers!"

"Blistering Barnacles! That's astounding!" said the Captain also amazed. She couldn't imitate the male voices exactly, but she had imitated their accents, their posture and even the slightest gestures of the two gentlemen.

"Yeah, I can't really imitate men's voices. It's hard for me… Hey, how about this?" She clears her throat and takes a deep breath. "BLISTERING BARNICLES!" She shouted angrily with a voice of a familiar sea captain. Tintin and Haddock jumped. She looked at them "I thought I told you I didn't like that woman! You had to remind me of her and her annoying opera voice! Her annoying attitude! She can't even remember my name! It's HADDOCK! HAD-DOCK!" Jacq's face was becoming extremely red like Haddock does when he's screaming at someone. She didn't look too pleased. "By thunder! How hard is it to remember my name? Do I have to keep telling her myself?"

"PLEASE! Calm down!" said Haddock worried about her. Now he was worried about himself. Was he really this stressed out? In a millisecond, Jacq was back to her cheerful self, as if nothing had happened to her. "Sorry. Acting." They all laughed.

"Ok, ok! Now guess this one…" Jacq walked to the left side of the terrace. She started to walk in a different manner from her own. Before she even uttered a word, Haddock spoke. "Could that be Tintin?"

Jacq and Tintin looked at the Captain amazed. "Yes," said Jacq "Man! How did you guess so quickly? I didn't even say anything!"

"Believe me, there is no one else who walks the way that this laddie does," said the Captain. "I can't think of anyone else that walks that way other than Tintin."

"I have a way of walking?" said Tintin.

"I can't explain it. There's just this WAY you walk. Everyone has a way of walking. But seriously," he said turning to Jacq, "How do you do it? What's your trick?"

"What? Umm… I don't know if I have a 'trick', but … if I had to think of something… basically I have to think like them. Put myself in their shoes. Sometimes I 'mirror' them. I dunno. I just sorta act that way, I guess."

"And how do you imitate voices?" asked Tintin.

"I really don't know. I just sorta imitate their accents. Everyone pronounces things differently and it sticks to my head. But as for the imitating voices, I can definitely do female voices, but, like I said before, I can't do male voices because they have very deep voices, unless their voice is high enough. But seriously, it's no big deal."

"NO BIG DEAL?" said the captain. "THUNDERING TYPHOONS! This is a BIG deal! You're an extra in films, I heard? You should be with the stars! On the big screen! I don't understand why they wouldn't want to have you in their movies! You'll be the most famous actress in America!"

"That is a good point," said Tintin. "Jacq, if you want to be in the movies, why aren't you in the big screen yet?" Tintin had wanted to ask her on the plane, but he didn't get the chance. Jacq simply said, "Nah, that's not it… I don't want to be in the movies."

"What do you mean?" asked Tintin.

"I just don't wanna be a famous movie actress."

Their faces were very surprised. Haddock said, "are you serious? You don't want to be a star?"

"Yeah, I don't."

"Not even with such a great talent like that?"

"Yeah, I really don't. I couldn't care less about stardom. I don't wanna be a movie star. To me, acting's more of a hobby than a passion. I'd rather work as an extra in films than have a big role."

"... but do they at least know what you can do?" asked Tintin.

"Yeah. Lots of people in the studio."

"And you're still not going to do it?"

"Nope," she said casually.

What an unusual girl this was, both Tintin and Haddock were thinking. A girl who has these amazing talents NOT wanting what every other girl wants? If any other girl had her acting talent, they'd use it to get to Hollywood. And Jacq was working as an extra through her own choice.

"You're very peculiar," said the Captain.

"Captain!" said Tintin.

"Nah, don't worry about it, Tintin. I get that a lot."

"'You get that a lot'? They call you that?" asked Tintin.

"Something like that. All the girls at work and I think some producers from the studios call me 'the oddball' all the time. I don't really mind. Even some film directors ask me to be in their films, whether as a lead role or as a supporting role, but I always politely refuse them. I'm more comfortable as someone in the background or with a group of dancers. I do like dancing too, but that's also something I consider a hobby."

"…So you don't want to be famous at all?" asked Tintin.

"It's not really that I don't want recognition, but if I were to become successful and widely recognised, I wouldn't do it for fame and recognition and I'd do something I love doing. I really wanna find out if there's something more from myself. In fact I was sometimes even dreaming to be a…" Jacq stopped herself in mid-sentence. "Nah, never mind. It's silly."

Haddock said, "But if you were a famous actress, you'd be doing something fun and something you're good at."

"Yeah, acting is fun, but it isn't something I really want. I feel that there's something more or at least something else I want to do."

"You're going to give up such a great talent?" asked Haddock. Tintin tried to make him stop. It felt like the Captain was pressuring her.

"I guess," said Jacq. "Others think I should be a movie star. That's how everyone sees me. As just an actress."

"And a great one, mind you," said Haddock.

"Yeah, but… I dunno. I can't get them to understand me much… I like myself the way I am and if they can't get me then it doesn't matter. It doesn't necessarily mean I wanna give up my talents, but I..." she sighed. "It's a bit complicated..." Snowy went down from Tintin's lap, and up to Jacq's lap. Jacq caressed Snowy gently and comfortably like it was her own child.

Tintin said to her "I think I understand."

Jacq looked at him. She smiled at him.

Tintin said to her, "You know what? I absolutely disagree with anyone who calls you odd. You know why? Because you're not."

"Yeah, I know. It's because I'm different, right?"

"Because you're special."

Wow, Jacq thought... she didn't expect to hear that. Especially from someone she admired so much. "Wow... thanks Tintin..." said Jacq "Well, I'll be going to the airport in a while. Are you guys going anywhere else afterwards?"

"No, not really," said Tintin, "we were going to spend the weekend in the North of France, but…" Tintin thought about it for a while. "Hey… why don't we come with you?"

Haddock said, "What?"

"But only if you want us to come with you. I don't know if you're going alone or…"

"YOU'D REALLY DO THAT?" said Jacq standing up quickly with eyes wide open.

"I would," said Tintin.

"HOLY GUACAMOLE! THAT'D BE FANTASTIC!" she said. "I'd love it if you came with me!"

"What do you say, Captain?" asked Tintin. Haddock felt a bit uncomfortable that Tintin always planned the trips for them, but it was strange right now, because they had just met this girl and they were going to travel immediately with her. "I don't know, Tintin…"

"It's either that, or we can go back to France where Castafiore will be waiting for us."

"Let's go!"

Xxx

On the plane to India, Captain Haddock fell asleep after practically swallowing a big bottle of champagne. Sadly Thompson and Thomson couldn't join them on their little holiday. They were still carrying out the investigation with Interpol about Bordwell. Tintin deciding not to bother the Captain sat next to Jacq. Jacq was feeling very excited for the trip and couldn't sleep at all.

"So, excited to go to India?" asked Tintin.

"Yeah, more than ever!" said Jacq happily.

"You've never gone to India before?"

"No, I've gone there many times. I used to travel the whole world with my parents since I was a kid. But I haven't been to India for a while now."

"Oh. But right now it looks like you've never been on a plane before."

"I just think it's more fun to travel around the world with company. Before I used to travel all the time with my parents," she was fiddling with magazine pages while she was talking. "I already mentioned they're novelists. And they're travelling to other countries a lot. I stopped going with them because… well, a girl has to earn her independence. After I got my job, I started travelling on my own," she stopped fiddling with them. "I guess travelling became less interesting without them. I could travel with them, but I've travelled long enough with them. I can travel on my own now."

Tintin thought for a moment, and he asked her "So is this why you were so happy about us travelling with you?"

She looked at him smiling and said, "Well... You're Tintin! And Haddock and Snowy! You've travelled the whole world and done so much! Is there anything else to say?"

"Well, couldn't you travel with anyone else?"

Jacq's smile faded a bit "I could... I just couldn't find anyone else as interested as travelling as me. Aside from my parents, of course." She started to look sleepy. Tintin said "Hey, you should probably get some sleep now. We have a whole day ahead of us."

"Yep. Tomorrow's a new day. Goodnight, Tintin."

"Goodnight Jacq," he said. He stood up, and before he left, she said smiling, "Tintin?" He looked back. "Thanks. For everything."

He smiled back at her, "Thank you too."

**A/N** SO! I really like how things are going so far in the story. Sadly, like I mentioned the day before yesterday, I won't post chapter 5 in a few days... maybe even over a week. I'm so sorry! But please I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the story so far! Tell me what you think of Jacq, and what you thought of this chapter! I will say this though: I think Jacq is the BEST character I've ever written so far. And not because she's very similar to me, but because I honestly feel she's the most interesting and likeable I've written.  
>Cya in a while! Comment and review!<p> 


	5. My day with Tintin, Haddock and Snowy

**Chapter 5: My day with Tintin, Haddock and Snowy**

The three of them and Snowy arrived in India the very next day. After they left their things at the hotel, they began their holiday by going around the town nearby. The town was crowded with lots of Indians and a few tourists, and everywhere looked bright and colourful. Jacq was running around excited by even the smallest things.

After walking around, they decided to eat some Indian food. Haddock couldn't manage to eat his curry. He turned red like he was going to explode just by eating the first bite. Tintin asked for water, but Haddock couldn't wait for the waiter any longer, so he ran towards a small fountain nearby and threw his head into it. Tintin and Jacq couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

After they finished eating, they saw a group of gypsies playing music nearby. People were dancing around with the gypsies as they played an Indian tune. Tintin noticed Jacq was moving her leg up and down with a huge grin on her face. She looked like she wanted to join the crowd eagerly. "Hey Tintin! Can I go dance?"

"Yes, of course you can. You don't have to ask me."

"Thanks!" said Jacq, and she sprinted towards the group of dancers. Snowy joined her and jumped around with her. Tintin and Haddock saw her having a ball. Jacq called them to join her. It did seem like a lot of fun going there, so Tintin paid the bill, and they joined her. Tintin and Haddock didn't consider themselves dancers like Jacq, but they still had a lot of fun anyway. Then Tintin bumped into Jacq. Jacq grabbed him and they started dancing around in circles together. Faster and faster they danced. It was like a wild rollercoaster ride. The gypsies finished playing their music, and as the crowd applauded, Tintin and Jacq felt dizzy. Snowy got dizzy just by looking at them go round and round. They hugged each other laughing as if they had just finished a marathon.

Afterwards, they decided to look around the small shops, and the three of them managed to buy souvenirs for themselves in one of the shops. Tintin bought a small vase; Haddock bought an oil lamp for the living room, and Jacq bought herself an incense burner with incense sticks for her apartment, and a bright pink bracelet that she found very pretty.

In another shop, Jacq found herself a light pink sari, which matched with her bracelet, and tried to look for a dress that matched with the sari. While she changed into a light-blue dress and the lady in the store helped her put on the sari, Tintin was looking for something for himself. Jacq stood in front of the captain and asked. "So what do you think about this one, captain?"

"I like it. Do you like it?"

"I do, but what do you think? Do you think I should get it?"

"You should, lassie. It looks good on you."

"… Can I buy it?"

"Jacqueline, you don't have to ask for my permission to get what you want. If you like it you can buy it."

"Sorry," said Jacq noticing the captain was quite annoyed. "I just have lots of trouble buying clothes on my own. I always need someone to give me advice and help me out. I think I'll take this one then… or maybe not… maybe I could… I really like this… but maybe I shouldn't… then again, I don't have lots of dresses… but are those enough? I never wore an Indian dress before… but do I need an Indian dress…"

"Just buy it!" said Haddock.

"OK! OK! I'M SORRY!" she said. She went to the changing room and took it off. Then Tintin came out wearing a grey vest. "I like this one, Captain. I'm gonna buy it."

Captain was relieved that Tintin wasn't indecisive.

After they left the shop, they looked around the town some more and soon reached a small hilltop where they saw a beautiful sunset. Jacq couldn't have been any happier than she felt right now.

Later they went back to the hotel and prepared themselves to have dinner at a restaurant they found earlier. Haddock waited for them in the lobby, and saw Jacq come out wearing the dress, sari, and bracelet she bought that day. Haddock said to her, "You look lovely this evening, Miss Jacqueline."

"Thanks, captain," said Jacq. As they waited for Tintin, Haddock asked her "Wait. That's all the make-up you're putting on?" He noticed she was just wearing some lipstick and just a bit of make-up on the eyes.

"Yeah. I only put lots of make-up when it's for a film shoot or for a really special occasion."

"Oh well, but you could have at least brushed your hair."

"I did brush my hair."

Haddock carefully examined her big curly hair. "… You did?"

She chuckled. Tintin entered the lobby wearing his new grey vest, and noticed Jacq. "Miss Jones. You look wonderful."

"The same to you, Mr Tintin," she said and they both laughed.

And off the three of them and Snowy went to the restaurant. It had a lovely terrace, with a gorgeous view. They ordered some food, Haddock not ordering anything spicy, and soon they started off their conversations.

Haddock asked Jacq about the types of novels her parents wrote. Her father often wrote about mystery cases and spies and her mother often wrote about adventure, although sometimes they'd have different genres or share each other's genres. "JONES!" said Tintin. "Martin and Diana Jones! I knew I heard about them somewhere! Why didn't you tell me that they were your parents?"

"You didn't ask," said Jacq smiling. Tintin gave a huge grin. He had read a few of their books before, and noticed a few similarities two of the novels had to some of his adventures. "Can I ask you something? … In 'The Broken Eagle', were the characters based on me and Snowy?"

"What? You mean Timothy Vale, the young redheaded photographer with his trusty white Scottish terrier solving a mystery about a diamond? Oh no," she said sarcastically, "It's a fictitious character. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental." They laughed. "I'm just kidding. That was the only time they've ever directly based a character on you. Other than that, some of their characters were a little bit inspired by you, but most of the time they were original characters."

"That explains a lot," Tintin thought.

Haddock wanted to ask Jacq if there were any sea captains in their novels. Sadly she didn't read all her parents' books, so she couldn't tell.

Eventually their conversation shifted as Jacq started to ask them many questions about their adventures that she always wanted to ask them. She was listening attentively to the details that didn't appear in the articles.

"And then I got stuck in a room full of fireworks that set off," said Tintin.

"Holy guacamole! I can't believe you survived that!"

Haddock continued for him, "Then Snowy and I found him inside the room just in time!"

"So wait… you're telling me you survived an explosion in a house, a room full of fireworks, a fall from an airplane, a plane crash AND an avalanche?" asked Jacq amazed.

"Hard to believe it, but it's true," said Captain Haddock proudly. Tintin tried not to make a big deal out of it. He was just happy that he was alive.

"Don't worry, I believe you both. But geesh! Next thing you'll tell me is that you went to the… Oh! Oh boy!" Jacq reminding herself of something she was dying to ask. "Sorry if I'm asking this out of nowhere, but… there was this rumour flying around like a year ago that people went on the moon, and that it was you guys. Somewhere in Syldavia, I think. Is it really true? Or was it just a rumour? Alexandra told me that it was probably true."

Most people said that the story of them going to the moon was completely made-up, although some believed it. It seemed almost impossible to think about men going to the moon, especially one of them being such a young person. Nevertheless, Jacq wanted to be one of those who believed it.

Tintin wasn't sure how she was going to react, but he told her anyway. "… Why, yes, we did," said Tintin seeing her expression change into awe. "And Snowy and the Captain were invited to come along too. Thompson and Thomson came along as well, although the two of them hadn't planned on coming to the trip."

"I didn't want to come to the expedition," said Haddock, "but a friend of ours had invited us to go, and he misunderstood me when I said no to him." Jacq could tell that they were telling the truth. She felt overjoyed that it wasn't a rumour.

"So it's true! You really were the first to go to the moon!" she said with a grin.

"Yes. Tintin was the first man on the moon," said Haddock triumphantly "and Snowy was the first dog on the moon." Despite this being one of humanity's greatest achievements, Tintin tried not to make a huge deal out of it. Nobody would believe him without evidence anyway.

"OK, then," said Jacq, "I wanna know everything from the start! How did it go? How did you get there? How it all started. Can you please tell me?" she said with anticipation. "Wait… did you just say Thompson and Thomson came too? How did they end up there? And who invited you? Have I heard about him?"

Tintin and Haddock proceeded to tell her everything from the beginnig. They tried to give in more details so that she wouldn't need to ask so many questions. She was listening with great attention. After they were done, Jacq's face was blank. She felt so many things at once that she didn't know what to feel first. She was happy that they achieved their goals to reach the moon, she was saddened at the two losses on the expedition, and she was both excited and terrified at how Tintin stepped on the moon. "Can you tell me again? How was it was like to be on that rocket… and to be on the moon?" she asked.

Jacq felt as if she was begging her mother to read back the same bedtime story every night.

He took a deep breath and proceeded…

"Very well then. Here it goes… When the rocket was about to launch, it was one of the most terrifying sensations of my life. For one thing, something might go wrong, and any of us could die at the launch, especially with the low oxygen supplies. But what if we DID survive? We'd be doing something humankind has never done before. During the countdown to the launch… please don't laugh… I actually heard a dull steady thumping sound, but then I came to realise that it was just my heartbeat." He chuckled. "I never felt this terrified… or this excited... It was such a dangerous task, and unlike all the other dangerous tasks I ever had to do. When we landed on the moon, I was told to go first. I didn't know what to say… I was trembling… but they insisted so much, and it felt like I had no other choice. So I was standing there, waiting for the door of the rocket to open not knowing what to expect. They opened, and… I saw such an astounding… almost haunting sight… like the most dead and landscape… the black sky was covered with billions of stars that when compared to earth… Sorry, I actually can't remember how I described the moment through the radio, but to how I felt being on the moon… I felt like I've accomplished everything. It looked like I had arrived on a dead landscape, but I couldn't have been more alive. I felt like I completed myself. And when it was all over, it all felt like a dream. Even though only about a week had passed, it all went by so quickly that looking back at it's unbelievable. This was all so unexpected, so different… like I put myself into a test. I keep asking myself even today: Did I actually do all this? Did I actually land on the moon? This was probably THE most incredible journey… experience… I've ever had in my life…"

Jacq's eyes were wide open staring at him this whole time…

The way he spoke… the way he described it… going to the moon was something that no one else had experienced. But he didn't just describe the journey to the moon… he had shared it with her. These words coming from Tintin made her feel that she had become Tintin... She was no longer Jacqueline Jones listening to the story. She had become the first human to land on the moon. And she didn't feel that he was trying to look proud and arrogant… she felt that he was humble and honest… a simple human being on earth that just so happened to achieve something beyond anyone's imagination…

"… Beautiful… just… indescribable…" she said in a low voice. This was beyond anything she could ever say…

Now Jacq was starting to get emotional inside. She didn't imagine this would affect her so much. She now felt like crying, and she couldn't control it. She didn't sob, but she did let some tears fall off her cheeks. She was breathing heavily and covered her mouth with her hands. Even for her amazing acting skills, she couldn't hide it. Tintin noticed her crying. "Jacq? Jacq!" He felt guilty and tried to calm her down "Oh, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't want you to make you cry…"

"No, no… I think it's the curry! It's a bit too spicy for me!" she said giggling. Tintin gave her a hug, and she hugged him back. She didn't want to admit it, but she thought she had just heard the best speech of her life. Whether it was from a movie script or from real life.

Haddock patted her back and said, "You see? I told you the curry was too strong. You should have ordered something else." They all laughed. She wiped off her tears, and they continued talking more about each other for the rest of the night.

They arrived back to the hotel afterwards. Going up the stairs to their rooms, Jacq thanked both of them for the day. "Guys, thank you so much for today! I never had so much fun in my life!"

Snowy barked. "Looks like Snowy also had a good day too," said Jacq.

"I'm glad you had fun. What a way to start a vacation. Well, I'm off to bed," said Haddock. "Goodnight, land-lovers."

"Goodnight, Captain," they both said.

Before Jacq went inside her room, she wished Tintin a good night.

"Goodnight Tintin… and again, thank you so much for today. Everything was fantastic."

"I had a great time too," said Tintin. "Goodnight, Jacq…" She smiled back at him. She entered her room with her heart beating fast in excitement. Did she really just spend the day with Tintin, Haddock and Snowy? It was hard to imagine it and it felt like she just woke up from a dream. Jacq spent the day with Tintin Haddock and Snowy! And she had the whole week to spend time with them around India!

"BEST! DAY! EVER!"

Xxx

In a large office, two tall men stood in front of their boss who was sitting behind his desk.

"Mr. Monroe," said the tall man with a black hat wearing a long grey coat. "I thought I got rid of him on the cruise, but he always re-appears and ruins everything."

"I say we kill him this time," said the other tall man wearing a long green scarf and a brown hat. "Because of him, our boat has been caught. Who knows what else he could be doing now? He could catch us right now if we let him loose!"

"Ruben," said the man with the black hat, "Why don't you think for a moment before you do something foolish? If this Tintin were on to us, why did he go to India? Why not try to come here?"

The man behind the desk spoke. "Then what do you suppose he's doing, Harry?"

"I have two theories, Mr. Monroe," said Harry. "After Tintin saved Alexandra, he escorted her to the South of France and let Interpol take care of everything. One could say that afterwards he left to India just to mind his own business. Or, he escorted Alexandra to India. We already suspect he was hired by Interpol to escort her. What if Alexandra is in India right now?"

"So, you suggest you go to India and see if Tintin is there with Alexandra?" asked Mr. Monroe. "But what if Alexandra isn't there at all?"

"We'll check just in case. Maybe Tintin has some information about Alexandra. If not, we'll just get rid of him for good."

Mr. Monroe stood up from his desk and went towards Harry. He put his hands on Harry's shoulders. "Harry, I couldn't have picked a better man for the job. Don't disappoint me."

"I won't, Mr. Monroe."

"Just in case, bring with you two or three more men. I've heard how much of a threat Tintin is. You'd need all the help you can get."

**A/N** So there you have it! Chapter 5! It's actually shorter than the other chapters, because there's not much action. But don't worry! I promise the adventure will continue in the next chapter! Even though I like this chapter (kinda reminds me of a scene in _Tintin and the Golden Fleece_ for some strange reason... probably because they're hanging around the city and stuff...) I feel this chapter's the weakest so far. Maybe it's just not as strong as the other chapters because of the actions, or maybe I missed something. Maybe it's the fact that they're in India... they could have gone anywhere else. Honestly, there's no reason to put them in India. But if you like it, then that's fine. But if you suggest anything to make it stronger, or something you felt I did wrong, then please tell me and I'll re-write it. Thanks!

Sadly you'll have to wait longer for me to upload a new chapter due to the fact that I'm finishing my final projects for university, and I'll be super SUPER busy. It might be next week, but in the meantime, please be patient. Thanks to all the ones who reviewed, including **sillydilly45**, **Brainiac 5 is KAWAII** (formerly named Tintin and Chang are H-O-T) for adding this to their favourite stories list, and again to **Brainiac 5 is KAWAII** for adding me to her favourite authors list!

Please comment and review. I'm curious about something: if you hung out with Tintin, Haddock and Snowy, what would you wanna do with them and where would you wanna go? On a wild adventure? Meet them at Marlinspike Hall? A regular holiday with them? Invite them to your house? Where would you want to be with them?


	6. Trouble finds them again

**Chapter 6: Trouble finds them again**

Jacq was having the best vacation of her life right now. She had just gone around India with Tintin, Haddock and Snowy, looking around small towns. In Japiur they had entered the City Palace and the Amber Palace, and now they were going further around India. These were the best three days of her life right now! And she still had a few more days with them!

After going to a small town near a jungle, they decided to head back. They walked across a long and narrow road through large trees. "I don't know," said Tintin, "we've done quite a lot in India these past three day. What else can we do? Can you think of anything else you want to do or anywhere else you'd like to visit?" he asked Jacq.

"OH I wanna do everything! Ride a camel, go to the Taj Mahal, try the cuisine, visit temples…"

"Calm down, lassie!" said Haddock. "We can't do everything at once!"

"I know, but I feel like there's so much for me to do! You know?" said Jacq still full of energy, unlike the other two who were exhausted.

"You said you've been to India already" said Haddock, "But you're saying this as if you've never done it before.

"Yeah, but everytime I travel, it always feels like it's my first time! Don't you get that feeling?"

Haddock replied, "Not really. Whenever I do something a second time, it always feels like my second time."

Jacq chuckled. "Oh well. How can I explain this? Um… It's kinda like… I saw it in a movie once. A girl goes to this dream world over and over again, but every single time she enters that world, it always feels like it's her first time being there. You know… it's hard to remember a dream when you wake up, right? So even if you had the dream again, you wouldn't remember it. That's kinda how I feel now. Do you get the idea?"

"I think so," said Haddock still a bit confused. For him it was difficult to understand her.

As they walked further and further, they then stumbled across a car blocking their path. Three men were outside a blue car and looked like they were having trouble with a map. "Excuse me," said one of the men with blonde hair a few feet away. "Do you speak English?"

"Yes," said Tintin.

"Well, we're having some difficulties knowing where we are," he said pulling the map away from the brown-haired man. "We have a few problems with our car. Do you think you can help us?"

"Certainly," said Tintin. But just as he was about to approach, Jacq grabbed Tintin's hand. "Hey! Tintin! Sorry, gentlemen, we're in a hurry. But there's a phone booth a few minutes away. I'm sure you can get there."

"What?"

"Come on, let's go. Sorry, gentlemen," she said pulling him and Haddock away from the three men. Haddock stopped her and asked "Hold on! Wait a minute now! What is it, Jacqueline?"

"We can't get near them. These guys are lying."

Tintin and Haddock looked at each other confused.

"We should go right now. Fast."

"Jacq, what are you talking about?" asked Tintin.

"I looked at their faces. They're not good."

Haddock laughed and said, "So you don't like them because they're ugly?"

"No, Captain! What I mean is they're not telling the truth. I can spot a bad actor when I see one. And I can tell by their expressions that they are not friendly people," said Jacq extremely worried. "I don't know what these men want or why they're lying, but judging by the expressions on their faces, I can see that these are the kinds of people that threaten you and try to steal something from you, or just want to kill you."

"Where did you get such crazy ideas?" asked Haddock.

"I saw it in a movie once."

Haddock started losing his credibility with Jacq. "Please, Tintin. You've got to believe me," said Jacq as she talked to Tintin. "Are you sure about this?" Jacq nodded. Tintin let out a big sigh "OK then. If you insist so much."

They turned around to the three men in the car. Tintin said, "Sorry, gentlemen. We're in a bit of a hurry. We have to go—"

"Oh no, Mr. Tintin," said Harry coming out of the car pointing a gun at them. "We insist you come here and help us out." Ruben came out of the car, also pointing a gun at them. "Put your hands in the air!" They obeyed.

Jacq's heart was beating extremely fast and felt stiff as a board. The man with the shaved head grabbed Jacq's arm. "Hey, Harry! Is this the girl you're looking for?"

"She's cute," said the blonde haired man approaching her face. "Don't you dare!" said Tintin.

"No, no. It's not the girl," said Harry. Looks like he couldn't recognise her face without her disguise. "Anyway, get them in the car now."

The brown-haired man went behind Tintin and Haddock pushing them towards the car. But as soon as they opened the backseat car, Snowy jumped inside the car and started attacking Ruben and Harry. Harry pulled the trigger, but luckily the bullet went through the car's window instead. Jacq gave out a shriek as the door glass shattered. Tintin and Haddock took their opportunity to fight back. Tintin tackled the shaved-head man against the brown-haired man, and Haddock punched the blonde man.

"Jacq! RUN!" said Tintin. Snowy managed to make Ruben drop his gun. Tintin grabbed it and ran with Jacq and Haddock. Snowy followed the three as they ran away from the men. Harry started shooting at them. "Don't just lie down there! After them! We can't let them get away!"

They entered the car, and started driving. But then Tintin turned around and shot the two left tires of their car. The car moved uncontrollably crashing against a tree, allowing them to escape. The men went out of the car and tried to catch up to them. The shaved-head man and the brown-haired man took a different path, trying to sneak up from behind. "Get down!" said Tintin. They hid behind a tree as Tintin tried to shoot them away from them. But then the shaved-head man arrived behind Jacq and grabbed her. Haddock turned around. "Jacqueline!"

In a blink of an eye, Jacq elbowed the man freeing herself from him, and turned around to give him a kick. The man fell backwards and hit his head against the wall, hitting the ground hard. Jacq, breathing heavily, turned around to see Haddock amazed. "How did you learn how to kick like that?" asked Haddock.

"I saw it in a movie once," said Jacq. She turned back around to receive a slap to the face. "AH!" she said falling to the ground. "HEY!" Tintin went towards the brown-haired man who had slapped her, and punched him down. Tintin helped Jacq up and all of them started to run again.

"Hey guys!" said Jacq as they were running, "I know I'm bringing this up right now, but just in case I don't make it out alive, can you tell my parents that I love them and that I always did?" Tintin looked at her. "Please? I'm sorry, I just thought-"

"Yes! YES! I'll do that! But don't worry! We'll make it!" said Tintin. "Thank you!" said Jacq as Tintin proceeded shooting behind them. He ran out of bullets and he threw the gun away. They had to give them the slip, fast.

They reached a bridge over a river. Haddock ran over the bridge, but it didn't look too stable. Reaching the end of the bridge, he shouted, "Come on! Hurry!"

"It doesn't look safe," said Jacq.

"There's no time! They're catching up to us!" said Tintin. "Jacq, you should go first." Jacq was standing still. "NOW! GO!" Jacq ran as quickly as possible, as the bridge was wobbling. Tintin and Snowy followed her. But as they made it half way through, the bridge broke and the three of them fell into the river. "TINTIN!" shouted Haddock.

Tintin, Jacq and Snowy were taken by the strong current. Tintin reached both Jacq and Snowy. "Are you ok?" said Tintin over the noise of the water. "I'm fine!" shouted Jacq trying to swim. They tried to swim towards the side of the river and reach some branch or rock, but the current was too strong. "TINTIN!" shouted Jacq. "WATERFALL!"

And the three of them fell into a tall waterfall. Jacq automatically took a deep breath and they submerged into the water. Luckily there weren't any rocks at the bottom. Jacq came out of the surface and tried calling for Tintin, but she then found herself falling over a smaller waterfall, and seconds later in another river. The current was less strong. Now it was easy for Jacq to swim around. She tried one more time to call for her friends. "Tintin! Snowy! Where are you?" she tried shouted while breathing heavily.

Then she heard a howling. It was Snowy. "Snowy? SNOWY! Speak up!" The howling got louder, and she spotted the white terrier over Tintin. Tintin's body was floating over the surface with his face under the water. "TINTIN!" she said. She swam directly towards him as quickly as possible. She grabbed him and turned his face out of the surface. She pulled him towards land. Snowy swam just fine over the water.

It was harder for Jacq to carry Tintin when she walked on land. His body was heavy. She fell down and started to breathe heavily. She checked on Tintin to make sure he was still alive.

"Snowy, his heart's beating, but I don't hear him breathe. I don't think he's breathing. Maybe he's got water in his lungs. I think I have to… Oh boy." Jacq had just realised that she had to do mouth to mouth in order to save him. She had never done it before, but had seen in movies how it was done. Although most of the time in films it looked more like kissing than actual sending air through their lungs. As much as she loved films, she couldn't help but admit that they were quite unrealistic sometimes.

"Films need to be more realistic… Ok! Ok! I'm getting distracted. I've seen how they do this. I think I also read it in a book once…" She took the process step by step… she leaned his head straight, tilted his head backwards, opened his mouth, blocked his nose… took a deep breath and approached his face… and…

"COUGH! COUGH!" Tintin coughed out some water and was breathing again. "Tintin! You're ok!" But something was wrong with Tintin. He looked weak and very faint. "Tintin?" He stopped breathing heavily, closed his eyes and lost consciousness again.

"TINTIN! Tintin wake up!" she said slapping his face lightly. "No, no, no, no, no… Come on, Snowy! We gotta get him some help!" She looked around and realised something. "Where exactly are we? Snowy, do you think you can find the Captain?"

Snowy sniffed on various directions. Then Snowy traces a sent, and pointed on one direction. "Good boy, Snowy!" she said trying to carry Tintin over her back. "But we also gotta be careful with those guys. We don't want them to find us."

Jacq put Tintin over her back planning to give him a piggyback ride, but unfortunately he was too heavy and she fell to the ground with his heavy body on top of her. "AH!" Her face landed on dirt. She lifted her head. "Maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all." She resorted to dragging Tintin. His body was still very heavy, but she tried to do the best she could, as well as not to hurt him while dragging him.

About ten minutes passed, and Tintin was still unconscious. Jacq had gotten extremely tired and decided to take a break. She didn't think she could go on. "Snowy, do you think we're near the Captain yet? I hope they didn't catch him."

Suddenly, a noise was heard. Snowy started to growl. "Snowy, what's that noise?"

It was a group of tigers… and they didn't look friendly.

"Umm… nice tigers… nice kitties…" she started to shake, and grabbed Tintin close by her. "Snowy! Run!" She tried to run while dragging Tintin, but fell backwards with Tintin on a large slope. They landed. To her surprise, Tintin was still unconscious. "How long are you gonna be sleeping for?"

Jacq saw the tigers reaching them and going down the slope. Snowy tried to protect Jacq as much as he could by growling them. Jacq in fear grabbed Tintin again and said "OK! Tintin! You've been sleeping long enough! HELP US!"

Nothing happened. "WAKEY! WAKEY!" she said shaking him.

Snowy went down and tried to protect them. Snowy's barks faced a few of them off, but not all of them. There were just too many to count. "Jacq? Are you sure you didn't see any movies about tigers?" he asked her.

"WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

"I'll take that as a no."

Snowy was faced against too many tigers. Jacq held Tintin around her arms as the tigers prepared to attack them!

BANG! BANG!

Something approached the group of tigers and something was being shot at them. The tigers ran away from the moving vehicle running towards them at full speed. On the dark-green car were three people and the captain who was carrying a shotgun with him. "Miserable earth worms! Marauders! BEASTS! NOBODY messes with Captain Archibald Haddock!"

"Captain! You're ok!" said Jacq with joy and relief.

"Of course I'm fine! What do you take me for?"

"Hello there, miss," said the man on the driver's seat. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine… " said Jacq, "… no wait! Tintin! He's not ok! He almost drowned, and now he's unconscious!"

"Again?" said the Captain. "Ah, never mind that. Here. You can lay him down in the back. These people say they'll take us to a camp a few miles away."

Jacq leaned Tintin against the door of the car, and suddenly she noticed Tintin sitting up straight and coming to his senses.

"Tintin!" said Jacq joyfully.

"What is it, Jacqueline?" shouted the captain, opening the door right behind Tintin. The door hit Tintin in the back of his head, and he fell down unconscious… again.

"CAPTAIN!"

"What?" He looked down at Tintin. "Ops."

Jacq gave herself a face-palm. Snowy gave himself a 'face-paw'.

Xxx

Tintin's head was thumping as he came to his senses. He also felt weak, and his back was aching. He must have passed out from almost drowning. He found himself lying on a sleeping bag in a tent. Snowy went towards Tintin and licked his face.

"Hehe, Snowy! You're ok! Very dirty, but ok! What about everyone else?" Tintin often saw a pattern with a situation like this: fall unconscious, wake-up in an unfamiliar place, see Snowy, and find out someone had helped him. It was like a cycle.

Haddock entered the tent. "Tintin, my boy! Good to see you all well!" he said.

"Good to see you too Captain," said Tintin smiling. "Where's Jacq? Is she ok?"

"Ahaha, don't worry! She's fine!" said Haddock. "In fact, she's coming right—"

"Tintin!" said Jacq bursting through the tent. She ran towards Tintin and gave him a big hug. Tintin felt a pain in his back. Jacq had noticed that she had probably hugged him too hard. "Ops! Sorry! That fall must have been more serious than I thought… and I don't mean the waterfall. I mean the fall from the slope when we were escaping from the hungry tigers."

"What?"

"It's a long story."

Then an Indian man entered the tent. He was wearing something that implied that he was from the military. "Hello, Sahib! Are you feeling good?" he said in very well spoken English.

"Yes, I'm good. Thank you," replied Tintin.

"Sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Kamal. I must say you looked quite terrible, but from what I've heard, surviving a waterfall, you are quite a strong young man."

"Where are we?"

"You're in a camp a few miles near a town. I organise travel groups around India, and we just made a stop here for this week. Anyway, you better get some rest if you want to recover." Kamal stood up. "I'll be right back." He left the tent.

Tintin tried to stand upright on the sleeping bag, still having a large backache. "So what happened afterwards? How did we end up here?"

The captain proceeded to explain. "After the three of you fell into the river, those men spotted me on the other side of the river and tried to shoot me. I ran away as quickly as possible. After I gave them the slip, I tried to find out where the river was headed. I went as fast as I could until I saw a car approaching. They were people from the travel group and I asked them if they could help me. They kindly said yes, and we went off to find you. That's when we found you with Jacq and Snowy surrounded by tigers in the middle of the jungle. It's lucky we made it on time, and it's lucky they happened to carry a shotgun in their car."

"Oh, so that's what happened," said Tintin. "Something I don't understand is," he said turning his head to her, "how exactly did we end up surrounded by tigers in the middle of the jungle?"

"Oh that? It's actually really simple," said Jacq, "I took you out of the water before you could drown, and I dragged you through the jungle looking for some kind of help. As for the tigers, don't ask me. They just came out of nowhere." They laughed.

"Thanks, Jacq," said Tintin. "Though the real question right now is who were those people after us? One of them looked familiar…" He pondered trying to remember something.

"They did mention something about searching for a girl," said Haddock. "Tintin. You think this has to do with Alexandra?"

Tintin pondered and realised. "Of course! I saw one of them on the ship when I rescued Jacq. I saw him talking to someone on that ship… and later we saw him today, pointing a gun at us in the car."

Jacq asked, "So this really has to do with Alexandra?"

"Most likely. And if they're after us, they probably think we know something about her. After all, we did save Jacq that day. They probably think we were helping out Interpol and know where Alexandra was taken."

"Well, we obviously don't know where she is…" said Jacq. She gave a worried look. "Geesh… I can't imagine what these men would try to do next…"

"Ten thousand thundering typhoons!" said Haddock, "Those sea urchins! Once I get my hands on them, I otta…"

"Calm down, Captain," said Tintin. "I think that maybe we can find out who those men are working for."

"What do you mean?" asked Jacq.

"So far Interpol has very few clues on who could be behind the invasion. Those men probably won't leave India until they find us. So it we manage to get them close enough we can maybe find a clue for Interpol."

"Wait! You mean you're gonna try to get near them?" asked Jacq.

"Exactly. Without being seen of course."

"But if they find you, they might kill you!" said Jacq holding Tintin's hand. For once, Haddock found something he shared in common with this girl.

"I'll be fine," said Tintin. "Once we leave the camp, we'll track down the men."

"How are you gonna look for them? Do you have any idea where they are now?" asked Jacq.

"If they are trying to look for us, they're probably searching around the place where we ran away. However, if they found us in India, they probably know which hotel we were staying at, so they could have someone to check the hotel as well just in case we returned."

"Tintin, you're brilliant!" said Jacq with a smirk on her face. "I mean… THAT'S DANGEROUS!"

"Don't worry Jacq. I've been around danger like this before. However, you shouldn't come with us. You should stay here with the travel group, and make sure that those men don't catch you. I don't want you to be in any more danger than you are now."

Jacq looked very hesitant. Even though she knew how much danger they encountered in their adventures, she still feared the worst. Another part of her mind said to herself that she wanted to come along with them and participate in their mission, but she knew that it was a stupid, even crazy, idea. What would she do to help? What COULD she do to help? She was just a young actress. Then again, Haddock was a middle-aged sea captain, Tintin was a young reporter, and Snowy was a little dog. All of them seemed to do just fine around danger. Jacq said still unsure, "Fine, Tintin… but please be careful."

"I will," said Tintin about to stand up. "We should explain everything to Mr. Kamal and then leave as soon as—OW!" He said falling backwards. Jacq and Haddock helped him up. "My ankle!" First his back was in pain and now his ankle. This day was just getting better and better.

**A/N** Uh Oh! Looks like they're going on another adventure- oh who the hell am I kidding? Everybody saw this coming! Anyway, all of you answered "adventure with them". I absolutely agree, but I'd ALSO like to spend a holiday with them at Marlinspike Hall. Like I'd have a wild adventure with them for a few weeks, and then spend the weekend with them at Marlinspike. It'd be really fun! I'd love to meet Professor Calculus if he happens to be in Marlinspike that weekend.

In the next chapter we find out a bit more about Jacq, and a bit about her internal conflicts. I know I'm going really deep in a character, especially for a fanfic, but I'm sorry! I just love Jacq! AND, we get to see the romance sparking...

Special thanks to all the new readers! Hope you liked this chapter and hope you keep reading! I really appreciate it! Please comment!


	7. Open to oneself

**Chapter 7: Open to oneself**

While a doctor treated Tintin's ankle, Jacq was outside talking to the travellers from the camp. She wore a hat just in case one of those men chasing them spotted her. Although her hair looked big, she was easily able to hide her hair inside the hat. They were going to get better disguises the next day when they went to a different city nearby. In the camp were a variety of European and Indian people, and all of them were friendly and energetic like Jacq. She sat down having conversations with them outside the tents they had set up. Two people set up small spare tents for Jacq and Haddock. Nearby were two cars and a large bus.

Meanwhile, the doctor finished. "That shall do it," said the doctor. "It doesn't stop you from walking, but I'd recommend try not to walk at all. Luckily it'll heal in a few days." A few days of recovery meant overnight recovery for Tintin.

After the doctor left, Tintin couldn't help but notice that Snowy was entirely dirty, and really smelled bad. "Come on Snowy," said Tintin standing up ignoring the doctor's request. He put on a hat as well (it was the best thing he had to disguise himself so far). He went outside with Snowy to find Jacq talking to the travellers. Jacq noticed him get out of the tent with Snowy. She excused herself and went towards Tintin.

"Hey! What about your ankle? Didn't the doctor tell you to rest or something?"

"I'm fine. Really, don't worry too much."

"What are you doing now?"

Tintin not wanting to say it in front of Snowy said, "I'm going to give Snowy a B-A-T-H. And a big one."

"Hey, I'm standing right here. I can understand what you're saying." said Snowy. "I happen to know how to spell too! Now let's see…" the dog tried to put the letters together in his head. "B… A… ummm… B-A-T… bone? It's a bone? I'm getting a bone!"

"Cool. Mind if I help out?" asked Jacq.

"Sure thing." They got the materials and the tub for Snowy. "Ok, Jacq. Put him in the tub."

Snowy panted with joy. "OH I knew you all loved me!"

Jacq went to turn on the water while Tintin held the hose.

"I wonder how big it is! A camel bone like last time? A dinosaur bone?"

"The water's on!"

"Oh! This is the best day of my—" SPLASH!

"You should have seen the doctor," said Tintin. "Maybe he could have given you a new bandage around your hand." Jacq had forgotten about the bandage around her hand. The bandage was getting old, but maybe her hand had already healed. "You aren't seriously injured from the waterfall, are you?" asked Tintin again.

"Me? Nah."

"What about when that man hit you?"

"Yeah, he did hurt me. It's ok now. It doesn't hurt anymore. Seriously, though, I didn't imagine it would hurt that much! It looks less painful in movies!"

"Well, he won't hurt you anymore. Ah-ah-ah! Don't run off!" Tintin grabbed Snowy while Jacq washed the dog with soap. "He should know better. Don't they know it's not polite to hit a lady?"

"I thought it wasn't polite to hit anyone." She had a good point there.

Tintin chuckled. "Yes, that's true. I'm sorry they had to hurt you."

"Don't worry about that."

"And I'm also sorry we had to cancel your holiday. I know how much you wanted to go around India."

"Nah. It's ok," said Jacq. "I get it. Our lives come first. Besides, I'm having a lot of fun with these people! They are so interesting to talk to! They travelled around the world just like my family and me. And they've also visited places I've never gone to before. Like I never went to China, I never went to Australia, I never went to— Sorry, I'm speaking too much."

"No, no. Please talk. I'm all ears."

"Um… well… I've been to most of Europe, and the only places I've been in Asia were India and Japan… and I haven't been to the Arctic. Well, that's enough about me. How about you? Where haven't you gone to?"

"…What do you mean 'Enough about you'? You never talk about yourself. You're the one always asking questions about me."

"Really? You mean you don't know anything about me?"

"Let's see here… I know who your parents are, I know that you've heard about me and read my articles. I know about your job and your acting skills. I know that… you're American… and…" Tintin thought for a while. "Oh! I know that you know the Princess of Bordwell and you offered to help her. That's it. I'd really like to know more about you, Jacq."

"Well…" Jacq thought for a bit, "What do you want me to talk about?"

"Anything about you that you find interesting. How about this time I ask you questions?"

"I'm good with that."

"Very well then. First question: I know you and your family met Alexandra and her family before. Are you very acquainted with them? How do you know them?"

"That's a simple answer. They like my parents' novels, so they contacted us to visit them at the Palace of Bordwell. They invited us about two more times to a party in their palace."

"They must have been treated with high class to be invited there."

"Technically my parents are pretty rich. Ever wonder how they can travel so much? They have to get the money from somewhere… well, both from inheritance and the novels they write."

"So, Jacq. If your family is so rich, then why do you get a job anyway?"

"I can't rely on my parents all the time. What if we were bankrupt for some reason or something happened to my parents?"

"Oh, I see. That's quite obvious. Now this leads to another question: how did you get a job as an extra in the movie industry?"

Jacq stopped covering Snowy with foam. Snowy almost swallowed some foam and spat in disgust. "Ops! I'm so sorry Snowy! Anyway, how I got the job? I don't think I've ever told anyone exactly how I got the job, maybe other than my parents. I can't remember whether I told them. Should I tell you?"

"Unless it's very personal."

"It's not very personal…" She proceeded to tell Tintin while she rinsed off the soap around Snowy. "OK, to being with, I actually never applied for a job as an extra."

"You didn't?"

"Nope. I first got a job as an assistant in the movie studio. You know Sally South?"

"Sally South? You met Sally South?"

"Yeah. Well, one day she fainted during a film shoot, and we had to carry her to her room. She woke up screaming that she couldn't handle the pressure and started to cry. She was pressing her face onto the pillow and punching her covers."

"Goodness! That's horrible."

"I know!" Jacq continued while drying off Snowy with a towel. "Then, surprisingly, Sally asked me to stay with her. She said she wanted to talk to someone and she started to open up to me. She mentioned how she was tired of all the publicity, she was tired of all the attention and she never had time to see her family because of the tight schedule… all that kind of stuff."

"I guess her life as a star wasn't as glamorous as everybody thought."

"Yeah. To thank me for comforting her all night, she allowed me to act as an extra in her film. Afterwards, the studio liked me and I kept the job permanently. The rest is history."

"That's great! You must have been a very lucky girl!"

"Yeah, you could call it luck." She finished drying Snowy with her towel. "There you go, Snowy! All clean!" Snowy shook himself, slightly wetting the two. Snowy thought in his head, "I hate you all."

"Come on, Snowy. Let's eat. How about we get you a juicy chicken?"

"I LOVE YOU ALL!"

Xxx

The three of them sat around the campfire with Snowy and a music band amongst the travellers played upbeat music. The Captain was wearing a brown hat and jacket for his disguise.

The travellers asked Jacq if she could make a dance performance. "We heard you could dance," said Kamal. "Can you present something for us?"

"Dance! Dance! Dance!" shouted the rest.

"Umm… should I?" asked Jacq. Then as the band played the next song, Jacq gasped. "OH BOY! I LOVE THIS SONG!" She went up and stood in front of the campers. If there were any song she couldn't resist dancing to it had to be "Sing, Sing, Sing" by Benny Goodman.

Jacq started to follow some of the choreography that she learned for a film shoot while including some tap dance moves that she improvised. Everyone looked at her amazed at what she could do. Tintin and Haddock's mouth dropped. She was moving her feet so fast along with the song's fast pace. Jacq was just so full of energy and her heart was racing very fast. She her dance to receive a standing ovation. "That was amazing, Jacq!" said Tintin. Snowy barked in approval.

"Why it's incredible! How can you dance like that?" asked Haddock.

"I learned it for a movie once."

Xxx

That night while everyone was sleeping, something outside woke up Tintin. It was Jacq who had left her tent. He went outside and spotted her. "Jacq?" he said. She turned around to reveal a very worried face. How could such a happy and energetic girl make a face like that? "Hey Tintin…" she said in a low voice. "I can't sleep. Can you stay here with me?"

"Of course." Tintin went up to her. "What's wrong? Did you hear something outside?"

"Actually… I had a bad dream… now I can't sleep…" It must have been a nightmare to make her feel this bad. A while ago she was dancing around happily, and now she looked almost devastated.

"What is it about? Is it about those men chasing us?" Jacq shook her head. "About Alexandra?" Jacq shook her head again. She felt like she couldn't speak. "What's the matter then?"

"I couldn't remember every detail in the dream, but I know it was about my parents… dying on a plane crash." Jacq hugged herself.

"How terrifying…"

"Something happened a few years ago… a few months before I went out looking for a job. My parents survived this plane crash, in fact there were no casualties. Just a few injuries. But I only heard about the crash through the radio. For a brief moment I thought I lost my parents. Until I heard a while later that my parents survived and were safe and sound, I felt lost. Like I didn't know what to do. Having this dream about that event made me feel so… helpless…"

"No, no, Jacq." He said getting closer to her. "Your parents are fine. You just had a bad dream." Tintin could almost relate to her when he had recurring dreams about Chang. "Don't worry. They're safe and sound."

"I couldn't handle it…"

"I know. It's hard to lose someone you love. It's even harder to accept it. Come here. Sit down." They sat down on a log near the now unlit campfire. Snowy came towards them. "Hey Snowy… can't sleep either?" said Jacq almost silently bringing Snowy to sit on her lap. Tintin felt saddened looking at her like this.

Snowy licked her hand. "Don't feel bad," said Snowy. "We're here for you." Jacq patted the dog gently. To try and change the subject, Tintin asked her "Do you like dogs?"

"Yeah. A lot. I wish I had a dog or a cat… I can't keep one in my apartment."

"Have you ever had a pet?"

"With us travelling so often, we never had time for one… Tintin? How long have you been with Snowy?"

"Ever since I can remember. He's always been there with me. And he's been very helpful in any situation." Snowy panted and went on Tintin's lap. "He's like a part of me."

"Like the Captain?"

"Yes, but in a different way. I can't really explain it. All I know is that going on an adventure on my own isn't as great without them. Snowy and the Captain have been the best friends I've ever had, and I don't know how different life would have been without them."

"I wish I could have someone travel the world with me… Sometimes I feel like I'll never find that person... someday my parents won't be there for me, and I have to learn how to..." She sighed. "Although it is a scary thought..."

"What is?"

Jacq held her arms around herself again and said in an almost broken voice, "… being alone."

"... You're not alone, Jacq."

"But back at home, I have nobody I can really talk to. Sure, I have a few conversations about some things with them, but sometimes they give me a look whenever I say something, and most of the time I feel like a fish out of water and I can't understand what they're saying. It's too hard for me. I don't even have anyone to travel the world with... I don't know... Who knows whether I can find someone like that."

"I do. I think you're one of the most interesting people I've ever met, Jacq. You're sweet, kind, talented, energetic and very unique. I don't think I've ever met anyone like you. You're lucky to be who you are."

Jacq smiled at Tintin. "Lucky to have loving parents, lucky to be in a rich family, lucky that I can act, lucky I met Sally South, lucky this, lucky that… Sometimes I just don't wanna be lucky... Sure, luck comes in handy once in a while, but for once I want to do something not because I got lucky. I want to do something and earn it through my own efforts."

"I understand," said Tintin patting Snowy gently, "Just because someone's lucky doesn't mean that they have to stand there and let things happen on their own. Often we have to work for what we want."

"Exactly! I want to do something worthwhile or something great and I want to look back at someone who had put so much time and passion into something! But it's hard… I try to tell myself that I need to push myself forward, but most of the time I just can't… and I don't know why…"

"Sometimes it's hard to try. Some things might look simple, but there will always be something pulling you back. Isn't it?"

"… Maybe you're right."

"Oh, I'm always right. Never doubt me," said Tintin jokingly. They giggled.

"Maybe I have to get used to doing things on my own… I can't rely on others to do things for me." Jacq remembered when the tigers were about to attack them and Haddock ended up saving them on time. "… No matter how difficult the situation. If not, I won't be able to achieve my dream."

"What dream?"

"I—" Jacq wanted to say it, but she hesitated. "I-"

"Jacq? If you don't want to answer… Is it to be a dancer?"

"No, no. That's not... I mean… the reason I got this job in the first place…" She couldn't find the courage to tell Tintin. She was being open and honest to him until that particular point. She felt scared and uncertain. Now she felt a bit ashamed that she couldn't say anything. "I can't…"

"Why not?"

"I just… It's complicated…"

Tintin couldn't see her like this any longer. He took her hands and turned her face to his. "Jacq. Listen. You don't have to tell me what you want. All that matters is that you know what you want. Whatever it is you want to do, whether big or small, whether it seems possible or not, you can do it. You're an amazing person. You'll do great."

Jacq's face lightened up. "Really?"

"Really."

"… You really think so?"

"I know so." He said with a sweet look. Jacq immediately felt happy again and this time more encouraged. "Now go to sleep," he said standing up. "We need to get some energy for tomorrow."

"What about your ankle?"

"It's already healed." Tintin hopped on his foot to show her.

"Wow," Jacq whispered to herself. She stood up and wished him and Snowy goodnight. Tintin wished her goodnight with another kiss on her hand. He entered his tent.

Jacq didn't feel saddened anymore. She was full of life again… but something else went through her body. Something she couldn't comprehend. He hand was shaking… Her whole body had Goosebumps. She felt extremely strange and confused. Why was she feeling this way? Her heart was beating fast, and her head was spinning. Was she sick? Was she going crazy? There was only one way to find out!

"_AT LAST! I'm reunited with my dear old friend!" said the Captain dreaming of a giant bottle of champagne over the clouds._

Suddenly, Jacq burst inside the tent. "CAPTAIN!" The Captain woke up from his dream. "Barnacles."

Jacq said, "Captain, I need your help! There's something wrong with me!" Haddock looked confused. "Don't shout, lassie. Everyone's sleeping. What is it?"

"I could tell Tintin, but I just can't! I can't tell him anything!" Now Haddock looked even more confused. Jacq tried to find words to explain her overexcitement "It's-It's… you know when… I'm feeling… When I'm… UGH! GEESH!" Haddock went out of bed and turned on the light. He went up to her. "My dear… calm down. Take a deep breath, and think about what you're going to say."

Jacq took a large breath and exhaled loudly. Haddock had never seen Jacq become this excited over something. He didn't want to call her odd but he couldn't help how unpredictable she was. After a while, she calmed down a bit, sat down and spoke.

"Well… I was very normal, like any other person," said Jacq. Haddock had to disagree with that statement. "I mean… when I was with Tintin… I was fine! You know? Nothing was wrong with me." Haddock had hoped that she didn't mean allergic to Tintin. She spoke in a very quick pace, trying to slow herself down as she spoke. She tried to speak in a low voice as to not wake up the people in the camp.

"But now… when I'm with him… he kissed my hand and now I get… I'm hot! Then I'm cold! I'm calm, but then I'm not! And I'm excited… and terrified! And I can't tell if I'm strong or weak… I can't think right! I think I lost my mind!" Haddock looked at her continuing to talk, and it took a while for him to realise it. He started to laugh with delight.

"What?" asked Jacq. She hoped it wasn't something embarrassing.

"OH! So that was it! … I guess you can't help it. I don't think anyone can."

"WHAT HAPPENED? What's wrong with me?"

"Don't worry, Jacqueline. Nothing is wrong with you…" He stood up and looked at her like a parent talking to their child.

"If I'm not mistaken, my dear… you're in love."

…

"…In love" she thought. She said "What? I'm… really?"

"Really," said Haddock with delight.

"I'm… I'm in love with…?"

"That's right. You're in love with Tintin."

"… Is… is that possible?"

Haddock laughed, "of course it's possible! Why wouldn't it?"

"But… how can… how can you know? HOW can you tell?"

"It's common for someone to fall in love. I've seen love before, and even experienced love myself through many women. Ah yes, I've encountered the strongest and toughest storms and typhoons on my trip around the seven seas, but never did I discover a force more powerful than love." Jacq looked at him with confusion. He continued, "What do you think about when you're with Tintin?"

"I don't know… I think about everything… and nothing… and I don't know what's in my head-"

"Calm down, lassie!" said Haddock. "You don't want to get too excited again, do you?" She stopped in embarrassment. He continued "I do see it in your face. I am quite certain that you are in love."

Jacq stood up and walked around the tent… "Ok… maybe you can see it… but how can I know myself that I'm in love… with Tintin?"

"Tell me, my dear… when you think of Tintin… oh no! I'm sorry! You've already answered that. My question is: what do you_ like_ about Tintin?"

In an instant, she turned around and said "OH! Many things! He's sweet and kind, and smart, and brave… he's adventurous, he's hopeful and quick thinking. And when I look at his eyes, I see this tenderness and purity… He doesn't even realise how great he is! And when he looks back at me, I feel like he's the only one I can talk to! … Aside from my parents of course… It's like he knows that I'm different, but he accepts me for who I am. He makes me truly realise how happy I am with myself and what I can achieve—"

Suddenly, she stopped…

Jacq had always admired him to the point that she saw him as a role model. But now… her feelings for him have changed. Tintin was now like a friend that she's known for years, even though she had only met him a few days ago.

Jacq looked at Haddock. "I… I never thought this way about him before. Captain… I think I really am… maybe I am…"

"That's very good to hear—"

"NO WAIT! I don't know! I probably just admire him! NO WAIT! Maybe I just really like him. Or maybe… I need to find out… WAIT! I don't know…"

"Here's a thought. Why don't you sleep it off, and you think about how you feel tomorrow?" said Haddock.

"OK then. Thanks Captain," said Jacq giving him a hug. "Good night." She sprinted out the tent.

Haddock was annoyed Jacq woke him up, but nonetheless he felt glad to see her like this. There was a large chance that she had fallen in love. But the question that would bug his mind later on would be whether Tintin loved her back.

**A/N** ...Wow... I mean, WOW. I know I wanted to make Jacq an interesting and deep character, but now that I think about it, her story's actually kinda dark (In a good way). It doesn't have to be a tragic story to be dark, but the fear of being alone IS actually a serious issue and something even I can relate to. Exploring Jacq's fear of solitude and helplessness does explain her character and motivations a lot, in my honest opinion, and it's one of the reasons I love writing this character so much.  
>Anyway, I love the song "Sing, Sing, Sing" by Benny Goodman! It's so good! And no, I can't dance like her at all, even though I like dancing a lot. I wish I could.<p>

So thanks to all those people who added this story to their favourites list. I hope you liked this chapter and especially Tintin and Jacq's scene! Again, any grammar or spelling mistakes or anything you want to criticise or comment on, please write it in the comments. Please Review! Next chapter the adventure continues!


	8. Taking action

**Chapter 8: Taking action**

The next morning, Tintin had left early with Kamal and two more people to get new disguises in a nearby city. In the meantime, Jacq went to have breakfast with Haddock and Snowy.

"Good morning, Captain! Good morning, Snowy!" she said caressing Snowy who was eating a chicken bone.

"Good morning," said Haddock. "Say, you look happier today."

"Yeah! I know! I slept really well last night."

"Is it because of… should I even mention it?"

"Actually, Captain," she said sitting down, " I don't know what I feel for Tintin right now. Just promise you won't tell him about last night."

"I won't."

"I feel happy around him. And it's a different kind of happy, you know? I try to tell myself that I feel something strong for him, but it's just... I really DO like him, but..."

"So what's stopping you from saying that you love him?"

"SH!" she hoped that no one listened. "It's a bit hard to think about it. A bit strange. Sometimes I feel scared when I think about it."

"Why?"

"_How do I explain this?_ It's like waking up one day and suddenly becoming a millionaire or something. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yes I do," said Haddock thinking about his inheritance from his ancestor Sir Francis and the events regarding The Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure.

"Well, I guess it's too fast and surprising for me. Just about a week ago I met someone I really admired, it just took us less than a week to become friends and NOW I'm on this adventure with him. So to fall in love with him now… it's ridiculous." Jacq looked at her hand with the old bandage. So much was going through her mind right now. "It's happens so suddenly that you don't know what to even do." She took off her old bandage to find that her hand had healed from the cut. She rubbed the area where her cut was. "I've never felt this way before… I wanna do something for Tintin. Captain, do you know anything I can do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Anything special for him."

"A gift? Or like dancing or singing?"

"No, I don't mean like that or a gift or anything. I mean something special. Something really, REALLY special… to thank him. For some reason I can't think of anything. I almost can't think right. I don't even know how to approach him anymore. What do you think I should do around him? How should I talk to him?"

"What? Why are you asking me?"

"You were really helpful last night. I'd like to hear something else from you," said Jacq with an anticipating smile. "I-I... I honestly can't help you, Jacqueline," said Haddock. "I don't think I have anything useful to say."

"Please? I need to be certain about what I feel. How can I talk to him?"

Haddock didn't want to leave her there without a response. Jacq gave a look pleading for an answer. Hesitantly, he tried to think about something that he could tell her. "Fine. Advice… advice… Um… now let's see…" He said the first thing that popped into his head. "Try to act normal."

"Normal?"

"...Yes. I mean try to act calm. Try to be yourself and… try not to be odd."

"Huh?"

"Not that you are odd! Aye… OK, you're a teeny tiny bit odd, but not entirely odd. You're just very different from other ladies. VERY different from other ladies… Just try to be yourself… in a good way, not in a bad way…"

There was a long pause. Her smile faded and she looked confused. "This is much harder than I thought," said Haddock.

"I thought you knew about these types of things. About love and all that."

"No! Just because I have fallen in love before doesn't mean I'm an expert in that sort of stuff!"

"Ah, never mind then. I'm sorry, Captain," said Jacq a bit disappointed. Haddock couldn't really understand her, but he knew that he didn't want to see her like this. Jacq was very unpredictable and confusing to him, but a small part of the Captain told him that he wanted to see that girl again. Haddock tried to say something to cheer her up a little. "Jacqueline… I do know what you're feeling. I just don't know how to explain it especially to someone who has never fallen in love. It's also been a long time since I've fallen in love. I don't think I'll be any helpful… Haven't you even seen any movie that talks about this?"

"I think I saw it in a movie once… no wait… one… two… a lot of movies. The good ones, anyway. When I watch a character fall in love in a story, sometimes they can't explain what they feel, but they know it's real. They just know that they're in love and they don't have to give any explanation. Maybe love can't be explained… maybe it's something that just happens… Wow, you really helped me out, Captain!"

"Me? Oh no, lassie. I didn't say anything. You did this on your own. I just asked you a question."

Jacq thought it over. "Or maybe I just like him as a friend? I'm still not certain. All I know is I wanna do something for Tintin. Anything. After all, he did do a lot for me this whole week, including saving my life a lot."

"Don't expect that old landlover to want or ask anything in return," said Haddock. He lit a cigar and started puffing it.

Jacq sat still quietly for a while pondering about everything that happened this whole week. Then the car came back with Tintin and some of the travellers. "Oh look. Tintin's back," said Haddock pointing at the car stopping. "He must have gotten the disguises already."

Jacq looked at Tintin from afar. Something inside her told her to take action. "You know what?" said Jacq "I can't stand here and do nothing. I'm going to do something about it!"

"You are?"

"Yes. I know what to do now!"

"You do! Good for you!" Haddock was glad to see her happy again.

"I'm gonna help him out," she said standing up.

"That's great! That's the spirit!" he said still puffing his cigar.

"I'm going after the bad guys with you guys," she said walking towards Tintin.

"Yes, yes. That's good. Very good indeed… WHAT?" he almost chocked on a piece of his cigar. He coughed it out. "Cough! What? NO! NO! That's bad! Very, very bad! Jacqueline, come back here! You don't know what you're doing!" he stood up reaching her and walking in front of her. He tried reasoning with her. "Please. Don't do anything stupid."

"It's not something stupid. It's something crazy. There's a difference."

"Ten Thousand Thundering Typhoons!" He should have kept his mouth shut, he thought.

They reached Tintin. "Good morning," said Tintin. "Did you sleep well last night, Jacq?"

"Yes, better. Thanks. Say, I was just wondering— " Haddock covered her mouth. "Don't listen to her, Tintin! She's crazy!"

"Captain!" said Tintin. Jacq pulled away Haddock's hand off her face and said, "I wanna come with you to catch the bad guys!"

Tintin gave a short pause. "I told you," said Haddock.

Tintin said, "Jacq, are you absolutely certain about this? It's not that you wouldn't be capable or anything, I'm sure you are. I just want to make sure that you realise the full extent of what we'll be facing. Are you absolutely positive about coming with us?"

"Pretty positive. I think I can handle things just fine with you guys," she said acting confidently.

"OK, if you say so."

"WHAT?"

"YES! Thank you!" she gave Tintin a big hug. "I'll go prepare my disguise," she went prancing happily to her tent.

"Thundering Typhoons! Tintin! What are you thinking?"

"Relax, Captain. It's her choice. She looks like she knows what she's doing. Come on, get your disguise here."

"I don't know who's crazier: you or her."

Xxx

Jacq helped the men with their disguises. Jacq dressed up as a guy this time because she thought three men would raise less suspicious than two men and a young girl. Tintin dressed up as a slightly older man and the Captain dressed up as an old man with a fake white beard and glasses. With Jacq's help on the make-up, they looked quite convincing, especially Jacq with her new masculine voice. Tintin got a big bag for Snowy to hide in. Snowy had to endure the heat inside the bag.

Later that day, Kamal dropped them off the city and they headed their way to the hotel. They reached their hotel just in time. "Let's check here first. Jacq, look through the window. Do you see any of them?" Jacq looked checking carefully just in case they were also in a disguise. "We'd be in luck if they actually are waiting for us there," said Tintin.

"Oh look, there's one of them," said Jacq.

"That was quick," thought Tintin.

"See? He's over there. Reading the newspaper near the reception." It was Ruben. "Seriously? That's the best disguise he could get? A pair of sunglasses?"

Ruben checked his watch and folded his newspaper. "He's leaving," said Haddock. They blended in the street as they saw him leave the building. They discretely followed him until they reached a building.

Outside the building said _Khan Hotel_. "Jacq, stay outside over there," said Tintin. "If we don't return in an hour, let the Thom(p)sons know what happened."

"Okie-Dokie. Be careful." Jacq crossed the street and pretended to be a guy playing with a baseball.

Tintin and Haddock entered the building with Snowy in the bag. They saw Ruben talking to the man at the reception and then trying to look for a table in the crowded dining area in front of the lobby. Tintin went near the receptionist and talked to him. "Excuse me, sir? I'm looking for a Mr Harry? From room… 9?"

"Harry? Eh… ah yes! He's not here yet, but one of his friends is over there near the phone," he said pointing at Ruben who finally found a table through the crowded place. "He's sharing the room with Mr Harry. But I think you meant room 6. Not room 9."

"Is anyone else sharing a room with them?"

"No, just him and Mr Harry. Would you like to talk to his friend, sir?"

"No, that's quite alright." said Tintin. "My apologies. I think I'll wait for Mr Harry later instead. Before I go, may I use your bathroom?"

"Certainly. It's at the end of that corridor."

"Thank you," he said. Before he could go to the hotel rooms upstairs, he asked Haddock a favour. "Captain, stay near the phone booth just in case he does something suspicious. Snowy and I will go to his room and search for clues. If you see him or Harry about to go upstairs, try to distract them to buy us as much time as possible."

"Wait! But how?"

"Just improvise." Tintin went to the corridor. Instead of going to the bathroom, he sneaked up the stairs to his right and tried to look for room 6. Just as he was going up the stairs, he noticed someone get out of the bathroom. It was one of the henchmen, the blond guy, who luckily didn't notice Tintin taking the stairs. Tintin reached the next floor and found the room.

Tintin made sure no one noticed him or that no one was inside the room. He used a penknife he had with him and unlocked the door. He entered the room and finally let Snowy out of the bag.

Snowy panted. "AIR! Finally! It was stuffy in there!"

"Look around, Snowy. Let's see if there's anything these men have that can help us." Tintin and Snowy searched around the room from top to bottom.

In the meantime, Haddock pretended to be talking on the phone as he overheard the blond guy and Ruben having a conversation.

"Man! It's hard to get through this place! Anyway, did you see any of them yet?" asked the blond man.

"Nope. Any luck at the police station?"

"No one. Why can't we come with Harry and Steven to search for them in the jungle?"

"Stop complaining, Tony. I'm more annoyed than you are, but Harry's ordered us to check if they returned to the city."

"I never knew that this Tintin could be such a nuisance." A waiter put their drinks on their table. "Do you think he knows anything about Princess Alexandra?" he said while opening their drinks.

"I don't know and I don't care. I just want to do my job. Harry will tell us tonight later."

"Did he give you the location of the meeting?"

"Yes. Wait, I'll go and get the paper for you. It's upstairs in our room," he stood up. Haddock couldn't allow him to find Tintin in their room! Haddock went in front of Ruben so he couldn't pass.

"Hey! Can I get through, sir?" asked Ruben in an impolite tone. "… Please?" he said bitterly.

"Oh… Oh, I'm sorry, dear friend," said Haddock changing his voice and trying to think of something quick. "I-I seem to have forgotten something around here, but I can't remember where it is."

"What is it you're looking for?" asked Ruben even more annoyed.

"I… seem to have forgotten what it was," said Haddock as slowly as possible.

"You forgot what you lost? Then how can you know if you've lost it or not?"

"Technically, Ruben, I remember I wanted to go someplace for a reason, but then when I arrived, I forgot what I was doing there in the first place. It's not impossible to forget what you're looking for—"

"Shut up, Tony! Get out of the way, old man!"

"I can't. I still haven't found what I wanted. And I can't remember what it was."

"Maybe this will refresh your memory," said Ruben about to punch the elderly man. But then an Indian man grabbed his arm. "You! You dare to hit an elder?" Ruben grew even angrier. He punched the Indian man. "Leave me alone!" shouted Ruben. The Indian man's friend got angry and tried to start a fight with Ruben. Tony tried to stop him, but then in a blink of an eye, others were trying to stop each other from fighting, but this resulted in everyone fighting with each other! Soon Tintin arrived out of the corridor and spotted Haddock in a crazy crowd.

Haddock noticed Tintin. He said towards the fighting crowd, "Hey! I found it! Whatever it was! I best get going now!" Haddock tried to get through the fight, but there was too much moving around in the room. "If I could… just… get… through…"

"Hurry, Captain," thought Tintin. Tintin saw Ruben and Tony about to reach Haddock. Tintin grabbed two bottles he happened to find on the table next to him and threw them directly at Ruben and Tony. It hit them both in the head making them fall unconscious. Tintin tried to move forward and get Haddock. He was almost reaching him until…

"Over there, Mr Harry!" said the receptionist pointing at Tintin. He raised his voice over the sound of the fighting noise. "That's the man who wanted to talk to you!" Harry looked at Tintin. "What does that man want?" said Harry. "You mean you don't know him?" said the receptionist. "I thought you did! He seemed to know you!"

Harry started to get suspicious. "You! Get over here!" He went towards Tintin trying to get past the people fighting. Tintin noticed Harry getting closer to them! "Crumbs! It's Harry! Captain, come on!"

Harry was just a few steps closer to reaching Tintin. It was hard to move around with so many men fighting and it was hard not to bump into someone or get pushed. Harry took a few steps ahead and tried to grab Tintin. He reached him and grabbed Tintin's collar! "Gotcha!"

WHAM!

Harry got hit in the head with a bottle of liquor. The bottle smashed into pieces and Harry fell to the ground unconscious letting go of Tintin. Tintin looked up. It was Jacq!

"Come on!" said Jacq still disguising her voice, "We gotta get out of here!"

"Wait," said Tintin. "We can't! He's stuck here!"

Jacq said, "Oh really? That's it?" She cleared her throat and in the lowest voice she could put, she shouted "EXCUSE ME!" The men stopped fighting and looked at her.

"There's an old man trying to get back home and you won't even let him get through without getting him hurt! Shame on you! Let's go," Tintin and Haddock went through the room. They easily reached the entrance and she turned around and said, "… OK, now you can proceed."

The men continued fighting as if nothing happened.

"Well... that was awfully easy," said Tintin walking away with the two. "Why didn't I think of that?"

One of the Indian men said, "Wow, what a nice young man, isn't he?"

"Yes, indeed," said the other Indian man. "Speaking of which, why are we even fighting?"

"I don't know, but this is so much fun!"

As soon as the three of them were out of sight, they ran before anyone else could spot them. They kept on running for a few more minutes. They soon stopped to catch their breath after running as far as possible. "Good news," said Tintin now able to breathe. "We found the bad guys."

"No kidding," said Haddock.

"And," Tintin pulled out some pieces of paper. "Snowy and I borrowed a few things from their room."

"Well done, Tintin!" said Haddock.

"On this paper there's a location to what I think is a secret meeting. First thing we need to do is find the location out of this piece of paper."

Then Snowy still inside the bag started barking. "First thing you do is let me out!"

Tintin opened the bag. "Sorry, Snowy."

As they tried looking for somewhere discreet, Tintin said, "Hey, Jacq. Thanks for helping us out there."

"It's nothing," she said now in her normal voice.

"No. Really. We would have been in trouble back there. Maybe even Harry would have caught us. You must have been extremely brave to do something like that."

"Are you kidding? I was terrified! If I hadn't noticed the trouble in there, I wouldn't have had the guts to enter and get you guys out."

"Nonetheless, you were great. I knew you had it in there."

Soon they reached a small restaurant and sat down at a far table. Tintin showed them the two things taken from the room: a letter and a piece of paper. Jacq saw something on the top of the letter. "Hey, isn't that…?"

"It is. The Royal Emblem of Bordwell," said Tintin. The details of the seal showed a griffin and an eagle. Between them was a golden crown with red and green. Below the emblem was written something in old English translating to _Strength with one another_.

"Someone from the Royal family is behind all this?" asked Haddock.

"I read a few of the letters, and one name kept repeating itself over and over again: Mr Monroe."

"Mr. Monroe? It can't be Alexandra's father," said Jacq. "That wouldn't make any sense."

"No. I thought about it for a while, but then I remembered that there's more than one Mr. Monroe. Remember that King William also had his brother, Atticus?"

"Wait a second… Atticus Monroe? But he's dead, isn't he? Didn't he die about a few years ago? Are you sure it's him?"

"I'm not entirely sure, and nobody's even sure he's even alive, but Atticus did have a motivation. He was the original heir to the throne, until his father figured out that he had a bad nature toward the bordering countries, especially the Syldavians. He believed that his son would want to launch an attack over Syldavia and eventually the other bordering countries. So he disinherited Atticus and gave the throne to the less experienced, but still responsible older son William. Atticus probably wants the throne back."

"Well, if he wanted the throne all along, then why not kill his own brother in the first place?" asked Haddock.

Tintin pulled out the letter and pointed at the words below the emblem. "I think I know why. You see here? The emblem's motto means _Strength with one another_. Nowadays, it means unification and strength within the whole land, but centuries ago it meant the strength within the same royal family. It meant unification with anyone who shared royal blood, even if it were a half-brother. According to Bordwellian beliefs, it is said that their whole family shared the same soul. This meant that if someone from the Royal family were to kill a relative, then it'd be considered killing part of oneself. Killing indirectly would also be counted. That's probably the reason."

"I didn't know someone could have that kind of devotion," said Haddock.

"So that must mean he can't kill Alexandra either," said Jacq.

"Exactly," continued Tintin. "If it was Atticus, then he probably didn't do anything until now because it had been officially announced about three years ago that she'd become the next ruler of Bordwell. He probably planned everything during two or three years to launch an attack."

"That's why he did it! He probably faked his death to lower suspicion! He tried to kidnap Alexandra so that he could force her to give up the inheritance to him," said Jacq. "We gotta tell Interpol about this!"

"Wait," said Tintin. "We're not sure if he did fake his death, or whether it's really a different Monroe. For all we know, it could be someone who took the name Mr Monroe or just so happens to share the same name."

"How did this Atticus even die?" asked Haddock. "Or fake his death?"

"It was written in a newspaper that he and his crew were lost at sea in a storm," said Jacq.

"But what we CAN do," said Tintin, "is hand out this evidence to Thompson and Thomson. I called them in the other city about the whole event and they'll come tomorrow. For now, we need more evidence to prove who's behind this. I've got a puzzle to figure out where and when these men's secret meeting will be held." Tintin held up the other paper which said, "Meeting location: Q 1512050114040518 1920

"Hey! That reminds me of something I saw in my dad's novel once," said Jacq. "There was this secret message and all: The letter A would be Z, and Z would be A, B would be Y, vice versa, and so on. It could be a code, but I'm not sure. The question is what do the digits mean?" She started to feel like she was a detective in a crime film. "Any ideas?"

"Maybe I do," said Tintin getting a pencil inside his bag and scribbling over the paper. He grouped the numbers into pairs: 15 12 05 01 14 04 05 18 19 20

"If 15 were this and you turned 12 into..." he calculated the puzzle it in his head. "Eureka!" said Tintin. "What if we turned the letters into numbers? 01 would be A, 02 would be B, and so on. Therefore you turn 15 into O, 12 into L, 05 into E…" He continued writing the numbers and started forming a word: OLEANDER. "Aha! And the last two numbers, 19 and 20, in that case would be: ST. With that said, we have: Oleander Street."

"You're a real Sherlock, Tintin," said Snowy.

"OH! OH!" said Jacq excitedly. "If you do the opposite with the letter Q, you'd get 17!"

"There you have it then: 17 Oleander Street."

**A/N:** I'm so sorry it took so long to write! First of all, there was writer's block (stupid writer's block interfering with my creativity). Secondly I had an amazing month! I had really good news all around May, so a lot of stuff was going on: My sister and dad's birthday (I gave them gifts that they loved, and I'm so proud of), me finishing my first year of university, me getting a job as a film blogger in a website (writing articles and reviews and all that stuff related to film), and also I MIGHT get two more jobs! All in all, great stuff! I feel things are gonna be much better from now on!

So anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing. It took me a while, but I hope you enjoyed Chapter 8. It was originally supposed to be MUCH longer, but I guess the rest will be in for next week in Chapter 9. I'd like to give special thanks to **Pink-Pencil-Girl303** and especially **Xx Ryo xX** for some advice for this chapter. Any questions or comments you wanna write, I'd be pleased to know!

And here's a little message to **TigerBlack62**: I'm so glad you're ok now! Estaba tan preocupada! Que alivio! :)

Next Chapter: Jacq makes a bold move.


	9. Act of impulse

**Chapter 9: Act of impulse**

Now the plan was to go to the location of the secret meeting held by Harry. Tintin and Haddock agreed to take off their disguises. They were already spotted in their hotel where the crazy fight was, so for those men to spot them again outside the street would be suspicious. Tintin and Haddock wore a hat and coat instead. Jacq kept her disguise on, although her make-up was running off, so she started to look a bit more like herself.

They arrived at Oleander Steer and waited in front of a small one-storey building which said 17 on the front door. It was starting to get dark and even cold. Tintin kept wondering whether he was right about the puzzle. "Maybe the G in the puzzle didn't stand for 17," thought Tintin. "It could have been something else." But soon enough they saw two of the recognizable figures approaching the building: it was Harry and Ruben.

The trio and Snowy sneaked behind the building and tried to spot the room where the meeting was held. They spotted Harry and Ruben having a conversation between each other.

"So what do you recon? Do you think that bloke had anything to do with Tintin?"

"Probably. Did you see anyone suspicious near our rooms?"

"I didn't spot anyone, Harry."

"Yes, I also heard that you were distracted. Tony informed me of the incident. How many times did I tell you? You better learn to control your temper or else you won't focus."

They heard more men entering the room. The three listened carefully as their meeting began.

"Oswald, you didn't see anyone at the airport?" said Harry to the brown-haired man.

"No, Harry, sir."

"Well, Steven and I were unsuccessful as well. However, we have two things: The first is that we spotted someone at our hotel who might be onto us. The second is that we received a telegram from Mr. Monroe. He suspects that the Princess and the King are hiding in Spain right now. The King might not have been able to tell anyone where he and his daughter went, but Mr. Monroe managed to get a few clues and find their hiding spot."

The three listening outside the window looked at each other and thought the exact same thing. Mr. Monroe was either William's brother Atticus or at least someone who shared the last name. But they knew one thing for sure: it couldn't have been Alexandra's father. Mr. Monore and King William were two different people according to what HArry said.

"Mr. Monroe is travelling there this instant. And he also gave us a new order: if we spot Tintin this time, we kill him. The same goes for his friend and his dog too."

"What about that girl who was with them?" asked Steven. "Some tourist girl with curly hair."

"Whoever she is, I don't think she's any threat to us. What we need to worry about now is Tintin. And I think that man is the first clue. I don't think he's working alone. Someone hit me from behind before I could reach—"

"_ACHOO!_"

"What was that?"

"Snowy!" whispered Tintin. "Sorry, Tintin. I couldn't hold it," thought Snowy. "It's really cold!"

Snowy and the three tried to leave before they could be spotted. Harry opened the curtains to see if there was someone out there. He turned his head and spotted someone with a hat and coat. He had spotted Tintin from behind but hadn't spotted Snowy, Jacq or Haddock. "THERE! STOP!" He took out his gun and started shooting. Tintin ran just in time.

"Who was that, Harry?" asked Ruben.

"Someone was spying on us. Let's go! Get him!"

The trio and Snowy ran as fast as they could from the bad guys before they could spot them. They were far enough, but they heard the bad guys reaching up to them. They heard gunshots from afar.

"I can't see him! It's too dark and he's too far away!" said Oswald.

"Stop complaining and get him!"

They noticed the figure taking a turn around the building. "Faster!" They took the turn to find what looked like a dead-end. It was the entrance to a closed shop. They found a door and saw that it was forced opened. "You two," said Harry to Steven and Oswald, "go around the back door!"

Inside the shop Tintin, Haddock, Jacq and Snowy reached the back door, but they saw a big lock on it. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't force open the door. "Blistering Barnacles!" whispered Haddock. "We need another exit!"

"Over there!" whispered Tintin pointing to a window across the other side of the shop.

But before they could try to reach the window, they heard gunshots. They ducked as quickly as possible. They tried to reach the window going slowly and quietly, but then they noticed two figures behind the back door. "Give it up, you brat!" said Harry. "You can't run away! The shop is surrounded!"

"He thinks there's only one of us?" thought Jacq.

"Come out nice and easy and we won't have to shoot down the whole place."

Tintin was about to move forward, when Haddock grabbed his arm and whispered, "Are you crazy? Didn't you hear what those gangsters said? They're going to kill you if they spot you."

"Don't worry. I'll sneak behind them," he said taking off his coat and hat to be more discreet.

"You're running out of time!" said Ruben impatiently shooting the place again. As even less luck would have it, Ruben shot down one of the sacks over where Tintin was. The sack, which turned out to contain apples fell on top of Tintin and hit him on his head. He fell to the ground and fell unconscious. "Oh no, not again!" said Snowy. "This is the fourth time this week!"

"Check to see if he's there," said Harry. "I bet it's Tintin." Ruben and Tony were about to approach the place where they thought they heard the noise. Haddock kept thinking about the worst now.

Jacq with very little time left did something she wouldn't expect herself to do at this moment. It was a risk she was willing to take to save their lives. "Captain. You and Snowy stay guard Tintin." She took Tintin's coat and hat and put them on. "Jacqueline?" asked Haddock. "What are you doing?"

"Improvising."

With Tintin's coat and hat on, she quietly moved away from Tintin, Haddock and Snowy. When the moment was right, she sprinted across the other side of the shop without hesitation trying to run towards the window. "THERE! SHOOT! You can't run away!"

They started firing at her. "AH!" she fell to the ground.

"Hang on! HOLD YOUR FIRE!" said Harry. He thought he heard a girl's voice coming out of that man. They approached Jacq pointing the gun at her. "Stand up! NOW!" Luckily she didn't get shot, so she was able to stand up just fine. Snowy started growling, but Haddock silenced him. "Oswald! Steven! Come back from the other entrance!" They obeyed.

Tintin started coming to his senses. "… What happened? My head..."

"Sh! Stay down," said Haddock.

Tintin, Haddock and Snowy still hiding managed to see and hear everything. Luckily the bad guys didn't notice them still hiding in the shop. They grabbed Jacq and moved her outside in the entrance. They saw her. "You're a girl?" They took off her hat and saw her long curly hair come out of the hat.

"Hey! That's the same girl as the other day!" said Tony. "I don't believe it. You're the little spy?"

"Surprised?" said Jacq with a European accent and more graceful sounding voice. Harry noticed the voice was quite familiar.

"Who exactly are you?" asked Harry.

"Don't you recognize me? I'm sure your boss Atticus Monroe would." Jacq mentioned the name to see if they reacted to that name. She carefully examined their faces and saw that they knew exactly what she was talking about. Jacq thought, "_I knew it. Atticus IS their boss._"

"How do you know about our boss?" said Ruben pointing a gun at her. Tintin didn't want Ruben to harm her, but for some reason Tintin didn't stop himself. Somehow he knew that Jacq had something in mind.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You men were careless and you allowed me to find out more about you."

"How did you even find us? I bet that Tintin told you what to do."

Jacq gave out a different expression. "No… Tintin's dead."

"… What? What are you saying?"

"And his dearest friend and poor dog too. As we ran away from you, we all fell into a river leading to a waterfall. Only I survived the fall…" Jacq with her acting skills made it seem like she was holding her tears back.

Tintin and Haddock looked at each other. Tintin didn't know exactly what she had planned. All he knew was that she knew exactly what she was doing.

The men weren't entirely sure whether Jacq was telling the truth, but they asked her more questions anyway. "How sure are you to say that you weren't alone? What about earlier today? Are you telling me that the mysterious man at the hotel was you?" Harry asked jokingly.

"Exactly," said Jacq.

"What? That's ridiculous! How could that man be you? How could that receptionist mistake a girl for a man?"

"The same reason you all mistook me for a man just a few seconds ago."

Tony giggled, "Oh yeah! That's true!"

"Shut up, Tony!" said Harry slapping Tony on the shoulder.

Jacq continued, "I do have quite the acting skills. The reason I went today was because I suspected you came all the way to India for some reason. Probably something to do with Bordwell. And I managed to sneak into your room and then your meeting."

"Are you telling the truth? How do we know that the man wasn't Tintin? Or what about the man who hit me from behind? Wasn't there anyone else with you? You mean to tell us you were alone in all this?"

"I came on my own. If you're referring to the commotion around the dining room, then that must have been someone else who hit you, because I don't know what you're talking about. you just grabbed me and then you fell down."

Harry proceeded to ask her more questions, still not entirely convinced, "Very well. Tell me, what else do you know?"

"Not much. I know that Atticus is your boss and I know that he's in Spain. Wait until Interpol hears this…"

"She knows too much! I should kill you right now!" said Ruben angrily.

"Again, I must advise you that you don't kill me. Instead it'd be much better if you brought me to Atticus. You'd be doing a good job for him."

"And what makes you believe that's a much better option?"

Then her posture changed slightly into a more graceful manner. "Because… I believe that it'd be a pleasure to visit him again. He'd be extremely pleased to see me. After all, I am his niece."

They all stood quiet.

"YOU'RE… YOU'RE Alexandra?"

"Indeed."

"But… the hair… and the… the look and the…"

"Like I said, I am quite the actress. It's a natural ability."

"But… what are you even doing here? In India out of all places?"

"I was escorted to India due to a few change of plans. Mr. Tintin and Mr. Haddock were hired to escort me there, but due to another few complications, we had to wait here for a few days."

"We thought you were in Spain all along. Is the King there?"

"I don't know how my uncle heard something like that. My father is some place else."

"Where?"

"I'm not telling. However, I'll be glad to tell you if you bring me to Uncle Atticus. Immediately. Right now."

The men looked at Harry. Harry thought about it for a while. "… Tony, get the car. Ruben, bring the rope at the other hotel. We'll tie her up before she changes her mind."

While they waited for the car, they took their time to go and get rope in the building to tie up Jacq's hands. In the meantime, Harry told Steven and Oswald to check the shop again to see if she was alone this whole time. They didn't find anyone there and the back door was still locked. A while later, Tony arrived with the blue car. They opened the door for her to enter, but Harry slammed the door before she could get in. "I'm just curious about one thing, Princess… Why do you want to see your uncle? I won't let you in until you give us a damn good reason."

"… For one thing, I am future Queen. I do have a great responsibility for my country and I am willing to deal with any problem or issue, big or small. I believe I should talk to Uncle Atticus myself. Give him a piece of my mind… I am also a bit upset that he lied about being dead this whole time. I won't allow him to get away with any of this."

Harry thought about it for a while. Jacq was able to convince him that she was Princess Alexandra, but not enough to say that she was alone. "Very well, Princess. Do what you think is best. But let me warn you that what you're doing is pointless." He opened the door. "Tony, let's go to the airport. Before our plane leaves. We'll take her to Mr. Monroe if that's what she wants." As Jacq entered the car, Harry told Steven and Oswald, "Wait. I have a mission for you two. If you find Tintin and his friend alive, kill them immediately. Let me know."

"You're not convinced that they're dead?" asked Ruben.

"I don't know what this Princess is up to, but I don't think she could have done this on her own. Ruben, if you see anyone following us in the back of the car, let me know."

Steven and Oswald looked at the blue car as it drove off. Suddenly they heard something behind their backs. "HANDS UP! NOW!"

They obeyed. "Don't move, or it'll be the last thing you ever do! Drop your guns!"

Steven and Oswald put their guns on the ground. Tintin, the one behind them, picked up their guns and said, "Thank you, gentlemen. You're very co-operative."

"Wait… you weren't holding a gun?" asked Steven.

"Yes, it's an old trick. Never fails."

Haddock came towards them and tied them up using the rope he managed to sneak out of their hotel. Oswald said, "You are alive! Were you in the shop all along? But how did you manage to escape?'

"We used the window," said Haddock.

"I can't believe we didn't notice that before," said Steven.

After Tintin called Thompson and Thomson to their location, Haddock was trying to interrogate the two men. "You gangsters! Pirates! Where are you taking the poor girl?"

"I don't know!" said Steven, "We were just told that we had to go to Spain!"

"Thousands of Thundering Typhoons! You Son of sea-gherkins! Pickled Herrings! If your boss lays one finger on Jacqueline, I'll never forgive you—"

"Captain! Cut it!" said Tintin trying to calm him down. "We're going to rescue Jacq."

Xxx

The next day, Thompson and Thomson and the police arrived to arrest Steven and Oswald. The two detectives wore Arab costumes assuming that they had bought Indian outfits intending to blend in the city.

Inside their hotel room, Tintin and Haddock told them everything that had happened. The police went through the hotels where the bad guys stayed and found a few clues to confirm Tintin and Haddock's story. All they needed was to find out the exact place in Spain they went to.

"Ah! It's a good thing you mentioned Spain, Tintin," said Thomson. "According to the information given to us by Interpol a few days ago that The King and his daughter were indeed in Spain."

"Indeed," said Thompson. "They have stayed with a friend who owns a mansion in Spain. So far they haven't left the mansion and no one suspects they're in there."

"To be precise, they haven't left the mansion since they've stayed there."

"Then we better warn the family before Atticus arrives," said Tintin.

"What we need to worry about now is Jacqueline!" said Haddock. "Sooner or later those pickled-herrings will discover that she's not the real Alexandra and they'll kill her immediately!"

"Relax. We'll save her in time," said Tintin. "We have some of Jacq's items at the hotel. If Atticus is near where Alexandra is, and Jacq is being taken to Atticus, then Snowy can try to trace her scent nearby."

"How can you be so calm about it?"

"It's not that, Captain. I have faith in her, that's all. She's a very smart girl."

"You're not worried about her? Not the least bit?"

"I am… but now I know I can really trust her. What Jacq did back there wasn't just anything. She knew what she did last night and she saved us. Everything she did yesterday was really something. We would have been goners without her."

Haddock was still unsure about the whole thing. Nonetheless he did what Tintin said. He was sure about her coming with them to go after those gangsters. If Tintin's so sure that Jacq will be fine around danger, then Haddock shouldn't question his choices. If Tintin trusted Jacq, then Haddock trusted Jacq.

"Well, off we go now!" said Thompson.

"To be precise, we go off now!"

**A/N** Sorry I didn't upload this on Wednesday. I was just out all day and came back home late.

Well! Shortest chapter of _How I met Tintin_. It was pretty hard writing this chapter, because there's a lot of dialogue, but I still wanted the adventure to look like something you'd write in the comic, so I tried to cut down the dialogue into something more clear and less… well… boring. But then again, there ARE lots of long dialogue scenes in the comics. First things that come to mind are _Land of the Black Gold_ (in a few scenes) and _Tintin in America_.

Way to go, Jacq! I don't think I would have been brave enough to do something like that! This moment is actually inspired of a chapter in _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix _when Hermione had to make-up a story to tell Professor Umbridge to not get caught in their plans.

I uploaded a new drawing of Tintin and Jacq together as the front cover of the fanfic. I really like drawing in general, so I thought this would be really nice (but I'm not good at colouring). I made them look like Disney characters in a way, because Jacq is also inspired by a few of Disney Princesses, mainly Belle and Rapunzel. I'd like to upload a drawing of Jacq in "Herge" form sometime, because I actually do have a drawing of that.  
>Please comment and tell me what you think about this chapter. I might be able to fix it if there's something really wrong with the chapter… aside from punctuation and grammar. I get that all the time!<p> 


	10. Doubt and fear

**Chapter 10: Doubt and fear**

Jacq, pretending to be Princess Alexandra again, was blindfolded and taken to the private plane to Spain. She had a pretty good idea why the bad guys were doing so: it'd be very risky if she knew the exact location where she was taken.

So far, Jacq had told and convinced the bad guys that she was Princess Alexandra, but her telling them that Tintin, Haddock and Snowy were dead was a hard story to buy.

As good as her acting skills were, she knew that she didn't look exactly the same as Alexandra. Alexandra's uncle, Atticus, sooner or later would know that she wasn't the Princess. Jacq thought, "Or maybe he hasn't seen Alexandra in a while. Maybe he won't remember her face… unless he has a photo of her… I just hope I'm lucky enough."

A while later, Jacq felt the men grab her and take her out of the plane. She was brought to a car and taken somewhere. Then she felt as if someone were tying her feet and tied her against a chair. Harry finally took off her blindfold to show her that she was taken to a basement. Based on the size of the basement, she was probably taken to a large house or a mansion. It didn't seem like there was any way for her to escape. Not even a small window. "Well, well, well, Princess Alexandra. Ready to meet up with your uncle?"

"…Yes," said Jacq continuing the act.

"Good, because he's just arrived and he's waiting to see you."

Jacq heard the footsteps of someone coming downstairs. If Atticus realised that Jacq isn't Alexandra, he's either going to kill her or torture her for information. Jacq just hoped that she could find a way to get herself out, or at least someone could rescue her. "I should have planned this thoroughly," thought Jacq. "Then again, I had little time to think …"

Ruben and Atticus came to the stairs. Jacq covered her face with her big hair. Atticus resembled the King a lot, except he looked slightly younger, had black hair, and had a goatee and a slightly bigger nose than his brother. "Good work, gentlemen," said Atticus. "I didn't believe you at first, but then again I did put my faith in you." He walked in front of Jacq. "There you are, my dear Alexandra! Surprised to see me?" Jacq said in Alexandra's voice "Surprised to see you're alive after all this time."

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear Alexandra. I couldn't let you know the truth. This is all for the best."

"Frankly, I don't agree. But I did find out about your plan. Trying to force me to give up the inheritance to you, I suppose?"

"Why, you're such a clever girl." Jacq turned her head away from him. "I remember that you have your father's wits." He looked at her. "Though I don't remember you having curly hair… are you covering your face?"

"Um… it's just getting in the way."

"I'll take care of that." He uncovered her face. "There you go. Now I can see-" He stopped. He saw Jacq's face. Jacq said, "What's the matter? You don't recognize your own niece?"

Atticus took a step back and grabbed Harry's shirt. "YOU FOOL!" he shouted over Harry's face. "This is NOT Alexandra!" He let go of Harry and shouted at the rest of the men in the room. "you got the wrong girl!"

"Sir, it is Alexandra. She's in disguise," said Harry agitated.

"Yeah," said Ruben. "The girl's not even wearing make-up!"

"You bunch of imbeciles! You think I can't recognize my own niece without her make-up on? This isn't Alexandra! Who is this girl? Who are you?" he said going up to Jacq angrily.

"I… I…" Jacq tried to think of something quickly, but was starting to panic.

"Answer me! Or I'll kill you!" said Atticus pointing his gun at her. She tried to improvise something quickly and keep a straight face, but then Atticus fired a warning shot.

BANG!

Jacq panicked and said without thinking, "I'm just an actress! I was posing as Alexandra as a diversion!" Once she realised what she had done, she felt like a complete coward. "Ops," she thought.

"I see," said Atticus. "Looks like my brother was smarter than I thought. Tell me, what's your name."

Jacq tried to think straight and improvise. "Um… Ja-Jackson… Linda Jackson."

"… Right, Miss Jackson" He put his gun away. "What about your job as an actress? You like it much?"

"… Y-yeah."

"Are you from America?"

"I… yeah."

"You seem like such a talented actress, Miss Jackson. May I call you Linda?" Jacq nodded her head trembling. Even though Atticus wasn't giving any threat or seemed angry, Jacq felt even more uncomfortable than before. That was probably what he intended to do. He's hoping she'll get scared of what he'll do next. "No, I don't want to scare you, Linda. You're a very talented actress. I can see why William chose you to be Alexandra. You're both beautiful and talented. Like a real movie star."

Jacq tried to make-up something to say, trying to get a grip on herself. "I… I was hoping that this would land me a job on the big screen. You know how hard it is to get a job in Hollywood."

"Yes it is. I also heard that you were the spy in India?"

"… I was," Jacq was looking around the room, checking whether there really was any other way to get out of the room. Unfortunately there wasn't. And it looked like there were lots of guards or something.

"And this boy, Tintin. Is he really dead?"

Jacq looked straight at Atticus. "He is."

Atticus looked at Harry and then turned back to Jacq. "You know what? I really like you. I obviously can't let you escape, but I won't harm you."

"You won't?"

"Of course not. But now I must depart. Right I have much bigger things to attend to. I came to Spain for a reason. Now that I know you're not Alexandra, I can continue my mission in Spain. I'm sure that my niece and brother are still here. After this is all over, I can make you a star."

"A star?"

"Yes, I will help you fulfil your dream once I become King. I'll make it my first act of kindness."

"People will know you're helping me, but they'll also know you also kidnapped me and threatened to kill me!"

"It won't matter whether you tell anyone about all this afterwards. I'll be under sovereign immunity anyway." Atticus turned around and left the basement. Harry followed Atticus, and Ruben and Tony stayed behind and guard the door outside.

Xxx

Meanwhile, Tintin, Haddock and Snowy had arrived in Spain with the two detectives. The detectives went on to warn the King and Princess about Atticus, while Tintin, Haddock and Snowy went to rescue Jacq. With a telegram found in the hotel in India where Harry stayed in, they found out that Jacq was in a large house near Alexandra's current location. It was just as Tintin predicted. Snowy was able to pick up Jacq's scent and started following it.

After running up a long road, they reached a white house with two floors and a bright red rooftop. They saw someone coming out of the house and they hid in the bushes. It was Harry, and he was talking to another man. "Is that Atticus?" asked the Captain.

"He does resemble the King. He probably is," said Tintin.

"Tintin," said Snowy, "Jacq's in there. I'm sure of it."

"Good boy, Snowy."

Harry and Atticus went to the car and they drove off. "Now's our chance," said Tintin. "Let's go."

"Wait. We know where Jacqueline is," said Haddock stopping Tintin. "Why don't we just tell Interpol where the place is?"

"We will. However, we have to save Jacq first, or else they might use her as hostage."

Getting their guns, they approached the house and looked through the windows. They saw that there were more men than usual. "Thundering Typhoons. How do we get in?" asked Haddock. Tintin went around the house and observed that two men were guarding the back. "Hands up," said Tintin pointing his gun at them. He ordered them to take off their clothes and then Haddock tied them up.

They put the men's clothes on and went inside the house. Snowy hid inside Haddock's shirt and started fidgeting again. "Quiet, Snowy," whispered Tintin. "Jacq should be somewhere around here." They searched around the house, until someone said to them, "HEY! You two." They stopped. "You're supposed to be outside guarding the back!"

Tintin said in a gruff voice, "Em… the boss's orders. We were told to guard the girl."

"The girl? Then what are you doing wondering around here? She's in the basement. Besides, the door's already guarded."

"Is that so?" said Haddock. "We'll check just in case."

"Whatever. I just don't want to see you wondering around." The man then left.

Now that they knew where Jacq was, they went downstairs to the basement. They saw Tony and Ruben guarding the door. When the moment was right, Tintin and Haddock pointed their guns at them. "Drop your guns! Now!" said Tintin. Tony and Ruben dropped their guns and raised their arms. "And don't say another word!" said Haddock. They tied them up and covered their mouths. They opened the door and saw Jacq tied up to a chair. She looked at the two men who were walking towards her.

"Tintin! Captain! You came back!" said Jacq. They took off their hats. Snowy came out of Haddock's shirt.

"Yeah, it is," said Tintin. "How did you know it was us?"

"I dunno. I just could. Must have been the way you walked."

Tintin thought to himself, "What is it about the way I walk?"

As they reached the first floor, they tried to escape without being spotted.

Then Tintin stopped. "Wait a second… You two go ahead. I need to look for something." He went with Snowy to the stairs leading towards the second floor.

"Where are you going?" asked Jacq.

"I need evidence to prove Atticus is alive." He went upstairs. "Tintin," said Jacq. She wanted to wait for Tintin, but Haddock was telling her to come. She had to move on, or else she'll get captured again, and everything Tintin and Haddock came here for would be for nothing.

Tintin and Snowy went upstairs and searched for a room which could be useful. Tintin looked at every room, until he spotted a room which looked like an office. He closed the door behind him and started searching for anything. He looked on the desk and under the drawers. Then he spotted a telegram with the name Mr. Monroe on it. And then he spotted something else which was quite useful. A letter. He didn't have full time to read through it, but noticed that at the end of the letter had the name Atticus Monroe. "Great Snakes," said Tintin. "They're letters from Atticus."

Snowy said, "Come on, Young Sherlock Holmes! We need to get out!"

The Captain and Jacq were near a window which led to the parked cars. They jumped out of the window and fell into a bunch of bushes. They quickly stood up and went on a car. "Captain! Wait! Tintin's still inside!"

Suddenly, someone shouted, "HEY! Someone let the girl escape! Tony and Ruben are tied up!"

Tintin spotted them outside the window, but then someone entered the office and spotted Tintin. "It's Tintin! He's alive!" The man pulled out his gun, but Snowy bit his arm causing the man to drop his gun. Snowy went towards Tintin and jumped out of the window and into the bushes. Luckily neither he or Snowy were injured, and quickly ran up to Haddock and Jacq. Haddock turned on the engine.

"Look! The girl's with them!" said one of the men from afar.

"Wait! Do we kill the girl this time?" said one of the men.

"She's not of any use to us now that she's escaped. Kill them all!"

As they started shooting them, Snowy said, "Here we go again!"

Tintin picked up a rock for some reason and then went up to the Captain and Jacq as they drove off. "Captain. I'll take the wheel," he said as he gave him his gun.

As the bad guys went on their cars and tried to reach them, Tintin accelerated the car as much as he could and Haddock started shooting them. "SLAVE TRADERS! BASHI-BASOUKS! ECTOPLASMS!"

Jacq then said, "Wait!"

"What?" said the other two. Haddock stopped shooting.

"Did we just jump off a window?"

"…Why's that?" asked Haddock.

"… Holy guacamole. I've noticed a pattern! Every single time you guys rescue me, we're always falling!" They paused. "You know! In that boat, we jumped into the water; in India, we fell into a river and then off a waterfall; and then with the tigers, we fell off the slope! And now we jumped out of a window and fell into some bushes!"

"… What about it?" asked Haddock.

Jacq said, "… That's so weird… But it doesn't matter, KEEP SHOOTING, CAPTAIN!"

"Blistering Barnacles, you're unbelievable," said the Captain.

Then Tintin used the rock that he picked up earlier and placed it on the pedal. He then said, "Everyone. We're going to have to jump off again. Once I take the turn into the tunnel there, jump off!" he took the turn and they jumped off, Jacq accidentally landing on Snowy's paw. They hid in the bushes as the saw rest of the men taking the turn and following the empty car in the dark tunnel.

"Tintin, you're brilliant," said Jacq.

Then they left the tunnel and went towards where the police station was, where they said they'd meet. Jacq held poor Snowy and patted him gently. "I'm so sorry, Snowy. I didn't mean to jump on you. You're not hurt?"

"No. I'm just a bit out of luck. That's all," thought the dog.

Xxx

As they arrived to the police station, they were surprised to see that both King William and Princess Alexandra were there!

For Tintin and Haddock's first time seeing Alexandra, they were astounded to see how stellar she looked, but also how similar Jacq resembled her.

"What are the Royal family doing here? They're supposed to be going away from their location." The King and Princess apparently stayed in a friend's mansion. It was a well protected place, so they were safe there.

Thomson said, "They're waiting for the plane outside. It hasn't arrived yet."

Thompson said, "To be precise… um… it hasn't arrived."

Alexandra spotted Jacq with the men. "Jacq! It's so good to see you again!" she said in a lovely voice.

"Great to see you too, Alexandra," said Jacq.

Tintin then said to the King, "Your Majesty, we need to talk about your brother."

"So I've heard," said the King. "Let's discuss this in the other room."

"Father, would you mind if I stayed here with Jacq for a bit?"

"Of course, my dear," said the King leaving Jacq with the Princess and one of the officers in the room.

"So, I heard what you've done," said Alexandra. "I must say you are extremely brave to pull a stunt like that." Jacq blushed. Alexandra was starting to sound like Tintin in a way. "No, not really", Jacq said with modesty and a bit of embarrassment. "I really am not."

"Jacq, if you weren't brave, then you wouldn't have helped me in the first place. If I'm not mistaken, you did offer to pose as me when I was in peril. I don't think any other woman would do something like that."

"No, no. I wasn't trying to be brave or act… noble or anything. I was just helping out, that's all. And that last thing I did was out of nowhere. I just got lucky."

"Are you sure it was luck?"

"It was a desperate move. I wasn't really thinking that time. If I hadn't done it, we would have been dead for sure, so I just did that."

"And is that what you call luck, Miss Jones?"

Jacq thought about it over and over. How could she possibly do something like that without luck? She then let out a sigh. "... I… I don't want to offend you in any way"

"No, not at all."

"But let's face it. I'm not really that brave or strong. The only reason I'm alive right now is because I got lucky. Really, I'm a big coward. You may think that I'm like Tintin, but I'll never be like Tintin. He's strong and fearless."

"… And you believe that he's not afraid of anything?"

"… Well, yeah. He can get scared, but…"

"Then what makes you say he isn't afraid when someone's pointing a gun at him?"

Jacq paused. She could tell by Alexandra's face that she was going somewhere with this. Then Alexandra continued, "You know, once when I was a little girl, I ran up to my father telling him that I wasn't the right person to inherit the throne, because I felt I would fail my country and I wouldn't do a good job. He told me that I shouldn't think of myself that way. If I prepare carefully over time and have some faith in myself, then I'll do amazing things. I shouldn't give up just because I'm afraid of what will happen. My fears and doubts shouldn't pull me back from my dreams and ambitions. He says that I shouldn't lose faith in myself."

"… So you're saying that I need to have faith in myself?"

"I'm saying you shouldn't doubt yourself. You see, I could argue that Mr. Tintin is the most courageous young man in the world, yet at the same time I could also state that maybe he's as afraid as you are. It's probably his determination that makes him move forward. The point is you were determined to protect your friends, and determined to protect my throne, so you went out and took dangerous actions despite fearing the worst and knowing that anything could go wrong. That, Miss Jones, is true courage, and which you have proven yourself to have."

Jacq thought about it. Alexandra saw Jacq ponder about it for a while. Then Jacq looked back at the Princess and asked her, "Say… you're the future Queen of Bordwell… Are you scared?"

"I'm terrified."

Jacq's perspective started to become a bit clearer. She was still a bit doubtful, but she understood it a bit better. What Alexandra had just told her did make sense. Jacq let out a satisfied grin. "You know what?" said Jacq, "I think you're gonna make a great Queen."

"My deepest gratitude, Jacq. And you'll be an astounding movie star."

"Oh no, I don't wanna be a movie star. I wanna do something else."

"Really? Well, that's fair enough. You'll do splendidly in whatever you do. What do you want to be then?"

"… I'll tell you when I'm ready."

**A/N** I am SO SORRY everybody! I was in Paris for two weeks, and because I was busy the week before I left, I couldn't finish this chapter earlier.

I must thank **kunoichi96** for giving me such a complement to my fanfic! You're awesome! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! As for **Fan**, yeah Tintin does rescue Jacq, but the rest doesn't happen. Still, thank you for the compliment. :) Btw, to **Fan**, her real name is Jacqueline Jones, so you can remember that Jacq is short for Jacqueline.

Sorry if the action and Jacq's rescue seems short. Though I really liked writing the conversation between Jacq and Princess Alexandra.

Anyway, thank you for those reader who waited patiently for this chapter! I hope to finish the next chapter by the following Wednesday. Cya! Please comment!


	11. Faith and trust

**Chapter 11: Faith and trust**

"YOU WHAT?" shouted Atticus into the phone. "S-sorry, Mr. Monroe," said the man on the other side of the phone, "Also, it gets worse. Apparently Tintin is alive and was the one who rescued the girl."

Atticus squeezed the phone and thought, "That girl! I knew she was lying!" He spoke into the phone, "Are you all leaving?"

"Yes, Mr. Monroe. Immediately. So far no one has found us."

"Good. Now listen carefully: if Tintin's getting closer to us, then they might have had the police warn the family to escape. Send some of your men to search for anyone escaping in a car or on a plane to Portugal. If you spot the King or Princess in a car, don't kill them. Just kill the guards with them."

"Yes, Sir."

Atticus hung up the phone and then turned to Harry. "How could you do this? I thought I put my faith in you!"

"I'm sorry, Sir!"

"First you mistake some actress for my niece, and then you allow her to escape! Not to mention you failed to kill that boy when you had the chance! You have to keep making mistakes!" He slammed his hand onto his desk.

"Forgive me! It won't happen again!"

"It happened more than once already!" Atticus pulled out his gun and pointed it at Harry who flinched at the sight of the gun. "Tell me why you failed to do as I said! TELL ME! LOOK AT ME RIGHT NOW AND TELL ME!" Harry didn't say anything. Harry looked back at his boss. Atticus spoke, "Now I wouldn't hesitate to kill you right here and right now, but you aren't my priority. Just let me warn you that if you do another stupid mistake, this image right here, the one where I point the gun at you, will be the last image you'll ever see. Understand?" Atticus put his gun back and Harry still shaking stopped flinching and just said, "I understand, Mr. Monroe."

"Good. Now don't disappoint me."

They went out of their hideout and upstairs to the bar. The light was quite dim and there were only a few lamps to light some parts of the bar. "Well, at least we know why we couldn't find Alexandra and my brother," said Atticus. "I figured out their location. If we can't find them here, we'll get them in Portugal where their next destination is."

"I don't think so," said a dark figure pointing a gun at them. "Put your hands up, right now!" Then the men in the bar turned around and pointed their guns at them. Turns out they were the police there to arrest them!

Atticus and Harry put their hands up. "Atticus Monroe," said the voice. "Now that we know you're alive and whose the man behind the operation, we have a warrant for your arrest. It's over."

Atticus asked, "What do you mean 'over'? Who are you anyway to tell us it's over?"

"It won't mean a thing to you…" the figure walked into the light. "… But at home they call me Tintin."

"TIINTIN!" Both men said.

Snowy walked into the light and said, "Yeah! You tell them!"

"How did you find our hideout?" said Atticus playing along. He knew that soon enough two cars were coming to pick them up.

"Oh, that. When I was rescuing my friend, I went to your office to find some evidence to confirm your existence. After I found the letters in the drawer, I found something else that was actually useful: Another list of numbers and letters. I knew it was a code, so we decoded the messages and figured out that it was a list of locations of all the hideouts. And then we interrogated someone to tell us where you went."

"… Clever man," said Atticus. One of the police grabbed Atticus and Harry and handcuffed them.

Thompson and Thomson, the Captain and Jacq saw Tintin come out the bar with the police and the two arrested men. "A job easily done!" said Thompson.

Thomson then said, "To be precise, an easy job done."

"Tintin," said Jacq. Tintin turned her head to her. "You rock," she said.

"Well, if it hadn't been for you, Jacq, we wouldn't have caught him this easily."

"I'm afraid," said Thompson, "it's not exactly over. You see, we were able to capture the men in some of the hideouts, but we're not done with the two remaining hideouts near the airports."

"Indeed. But at least we've managed to capture their boss."

Then two cars driving towards them started shooting at the police cars. "GET DOWN!" said one of the cops. The detectives, the Captain, Tintin, Jacq and Snowy hid behind the nearest police car.

They stopped shooting and one of the cars was able to pick up Atticus and Harry and they drove off. One of the men inside the car was helping the two men get the handcuffs off.

"Oh no they don't!" said Jacq. She went in police car and turned on the car. Jacq said, "I didn't allow myself to get kidnapped and go all the way to Spain just so that you could escape!" Tintin, the Captain and the Thom(p) entered the car and Jacq drove off.

The other car was behind their trail! Tintin started shooting back at the men behind them, but it was hard to aim now that Jacq was shaking the car too much. "Jacq! Try to drive in a straight line!"

"I'm trying! I'm just trying to catch up to Atticus!"

The Thom(p)sons hugged each other as the car right behind them started shooting at them. "Oh dear! They're shooting at us!"

"Thompson! I just wanted you to know that you're the best friend I've ever had!"

"So do I! You're the best friend I've ever had too!"

Haddock shouted at them over the noise of the car. "Blistering Barnacles! Stop whining! We've been through worse situations!"

"But… but… they're shooting at us!" said Thomson.

"Thousands of Thundering Typhoons! Get a grip! You're cops, for crying out loud!"

"I'm afraid we're helpless!"

"To be precise, we're afraid!"

"Why did you men even enter the car?"

"They were shooting at us!" said the men in unison.

Jacq shouted, "GENTLEMEN! PLEASE! I'm driving here! I need to focus! If you want to continue your conversation, I'm gonna pull over and drop you off! YOU GOT THAT?"

The men paused. "Sorry," said the detectives.

Haddock said, "… They started it."

Then Jacq took a curve in a street making the men hit themselves on the side. Then she almost ran over a few people in the street! Tintin said, "By Stars! Try to drive properly! And stop running over people! You have to switch gears!"

"I don't know how!"

"What do you mean?"

"Sorry! I never got my license!"

"WHAT?" said the men in unison.

Jacq rapidly spoke, "Yeah, I was never really good at it! I never passed any test! But I never needed a car! What's the point when I can use public transportation? Besides, I travel a lot, so-"

"Alright! That's enough! Come on! Switch over!" Tintin and Jacq traded places and then as Tintin drove the car properly, Jacq asked, "Does this mean I'm shooting this time?"

"No! I am!" said Haddock. He started shooting at the men but kept missing. "Those caterpillars! I keep missing them! Hoodlums! Sea-lice! Road-hogs!"

Then they reached a road bump causing Haddock's gun to go off and hit one of the tires of the car behind them. The car crashed into a fruits stand. "You did it!" said Thomson.

"You did!" said Thompson.

"… They had it coming," said Haddock.

Soon, Tintin was driving towards the mountains. They spotted Atticus and his men in the car who started shooting at them.

Snowy thought, "For once, can't there be someone not trying to kill or shoot us?"

Thy reached the rocky mountains and the cars started wobbling and vibrating from the rocks underneath. "It's better than my driving!" said Jacq.

Atticus screamed, "Faster, you fools! Faster!"

"What do you think we're doing?" said the driver.

The driver was supposed to take the turn, but because they were going too fast, the car slipped to the side and fell into the side of the mountain. The car fell and landed upside down.

"We're going to fall over!" Tintin pressed on the pedal as hard as he could before they could fall down as well! The car made a long screeching sound! Was it too late?

The car stopped just in time! Jacq was breathing heavily almost as if she had a heart attack. "Jacq? Are you ok?"

Jacq said, "That… was… AWESOME! Let's do it again!" she said with a huge grin.

Tintin chuckled. He grabbed a gun and exited the car. They went down to check the men, carefully as to not fall down the steep slope. Everyone in the car but Atticus was unconscious. "There you are, Mr. Atticus," said Thomson.

"You're under arrest," said Thompson. They took out the men in the car and handcuffed Atticus. Atticus thought, "I was so close… To getting my inheritance… To getting power... I had it all planned out. If it weren't for that Tintin, I would have…"

"No!" he said out loud. "This isn't Tintin's fault. This is YOUR FAULT!" said Atticus directing his anger towards Jacq. "You, Linda!"

"Who's Linda?" asked Haddock.

"Oh, it's just a name I made up on the spot. I didn't want him to figure out my real name, just in case he ever went after me."

"A fake name, huh?" said Atticus approaching her, while the Thom(p)sons tried to pull him back. "You're an actress after all. Your job is to pretend. You think you know who you are and what you want. You're just pretending to be a hero. You're nothing but a fake. A pathetic girl who's nothing compared to me. I was the original heir to the throne. I was better than my brother in every way and deserved to be King of Bordwell! But I went there and tried to earn it back no matter who stopped me. You think you can stop me, but you-"

PUNCH!

Jacq had just punched Atticus in the face knocking him out. "… Shut up."

"Way to go, Jacq!" said Snowy panting.

"You never stop to amaze me, do you?" said Tintin.

"Oh, it's not a big deal," she said modestly. Jacq had never felt this excited and happy in her whole life. It's almost as if she's accomplished everything. She also never felt this much pain in her fist. She didn't know how much a punch could also hurt her own fist. Even if she didn't admit that to the others, she felt extremely proud of herself.

Snowy then started barking. Tintin said, "What is it, Snowy?" Then Tintin noticed what Snowy was barking at. Harry was awake. He was pointing his gun towards Jacq. "I won't let you down, boss," thought Harry.

"JACQ! LOOK OUT!"

BANG! "AH!"

Both Tintin and Jacq tumbled down the slope until they reached a narrow hole at the bottom.

Jacq stood up. "Thanks Tintin. Ouch… that fall hurt. Are you ok? Tintin?" She noticed him lying on the ground. "Tintin?"

She went towards him. "Oh no," she thought.

Jacq knew that she heard a gunshot… she knew she heard a scream… but she didn't want to believe it… Tintin turned his body around groaning… pressing his hands against something… Snowy came down the mountain slope running towards him barking…

"TINTIN!" she saw it… Tintin was bleeding from the side of his chest from the bullet shot. He looked like he was loosing a lot of blood. Jacq looked up at the narrow hole. It didn't look like she could carry him up or get herself out. "HEY! WE'RE DOWN HERE! GET HELP! TINTIN'S BEEN SHOT! Tintin are you ok? No, no, don't close your eyes! Stay with me! Come on! Stay! "CAPTAIN! THOMPSON AND THOMSON! HELP US!"

Tintin opened his eyes and looked at her. "Jacq… it's ok…"

"I… I'm sorry, I don't know what to do." If Tintin hadn't pushed her to the side, she would have been the one shot right now. Jacq grabbed his hand. "I'm so sorry…"

"Don't be," said Tintin in a weak voice. It looked like he wanted to say something else, but he seemed too tired to talk. Jacq's eyes filled up with tears. One of Tintin's hand was pressed against the side of his chest, so Jacq grabbed his other hand. "Please… you'll be alright. Help's on the way."

Tintin closed his eyes. Jacq sobbed and held his body against her.

…_No… don't go… Please…_

…

… _I love you…_

…"

Xxx

Tintin woke up in the hospital two days later. Once again, he was lucky to be alive. As he was going to stretch himself, he felt something on the side of the bed and someone holding his hand. He looked at his right side and noticed Jacq sleeping and holding his hand. Her hair looked bigger than usual and very messy. He found Snowy barking to show how happy he was to see he was ok. With Snowy's barks, Jacq woke up. Tintin noticed her face: it looked like she hadn't slept the whole night.

"Good morning, Snowy..."

Tintin asked, "Jacq, did you sleep here all night?"

Jacq gasped and looked at Snowy. "Snowy! You're talking!"

"No, that was me."

Jacq looked at Tintin. "Tintin! You're awake! For a second there I thought I was going out of my mind. I should probably call the Captain. I'll be right back." She went outside to make a phone call.

After a while, she came back and said, "So… I feel like such an idiot."

"Why?"

"… I thought you were dying. You got shot and you were bleeding and stuff…"

"No, not at all! That's what I was trying to tell you. The bullet didn't really hit me. It only grazed me. Pretty badly, but I think I was bleeding from the fall. I guess I passed out from the blood loss."

"Yeah, I didn't even bother to check the pulse or anything. I thought 'you're dead. It's over.' I was pretty stupid."

"We made it to the hospital on time. That's all that mattered."

"If only I… No never mind," she said standing up. "I think I better see if the Captain arrived. No wait! Do you want me to get you anything? I don't know if I'm allowed to bring you anything. I'll try to talk to the doctor and see-" Tintin grabbed her hand. He said, "Stay with me."

And with that, Jacq sat down next to him and calmed down. "By the way, Thanks for saving my life, again. It's about the…" Jacq counted in her head, "Fourth time I think? Seriously, you have to teach me how to use a gun." They laughed. "Or at least self-defence-" Then a loud rumble interrupted Jacq. Jacq blushed. "Sorry. I haven't eaten since yesterday."

"Go eat something! Go on! I'll wait for you."

She chuckled. "Yeah, I'm starving."

Tintin said, "Yes, go ahead. And please get some sleep. You look exhausted."

Jacq left the room and a few minutes later the Captain entered. "Ah! Tintin! You survived!" He sat down on the chair near Tintin.

"Of course I did, Captain. I know better than to get myself shot. Sorry you got worried."

"Me? Oh, it's no problem. But Jacqueline might have been more worried than I am. I'm a bit concerned about her. Apparently she did get hurt from the fall, but didn't allow any doctor to check on her. She was more worried about seeing you." The Captain saw Tintin smiling. "What is it?"

"… No, it's nothing," said Tintin lying down on his bed. Jacq treated Tintin like someone that she's known for a very long time, not just in the newspapers. Even though he knew that he met her about a week ago, it felt like he's been acquainted with Jacq for a very long time.

"Are you thinking about Jacq?" asked the Captain.

"I am," said Tintin. He stood up properly. "Did you see the way she punched Atticus? I didn't expect that!"

"Me neither! I've never seen a lady punch like that!"

Jacq entered the room. She had picked up a sandwich, a muffin and a bottle of water. Tintin said, "Hey, we were just talking about you. Remember yesterday how you punched Atticus?"

"Yeah! I do!" said Jacq pulling up another chair and sitting down. "He was just right in front of me, and he was talking 'bla, bla, bla' and I just wanted him to stop. It was out of nowhere. I did it without thinking."

Haddock said, "Yes, but you could have punched him harder, lassie." They all laughed.

"Well, it's better than my driving, that's for sure." They all laughed again.

A few minutes later after they started chatting, Thompson and Thomson entered the room. They said in unison "Tintin. Good to see you well."

"Hey, detectives. What's up?" said Tintin.

"We came to give you some good news," said Thomson.

"A few good news, to be precise," said Thompson. "We have successfully captured the men from the two last locations, although we haven't confirmed whether the rest of the men have escaped on time."

"But we have even better news. The Palace of Bordwell was successfully recovered and the Royal family will return in a week."

"Speaking of which, we have something for you."

"For all of you, to be precise" said Thomson.

Haddock took the letter and read it out loud.

"_This letter is addressed to Mr. Tintin, Captain Archibald Haddock and Miss Jacqueline Jones,_

_Bordwell has been aware of your acts of courage and nobility, for the assistance of protecting and saving the ruler of our country, King William James Monroe, and the Princess of Bordwell, and future Queen of Bordwell, Alexandra Elizabeth Monroe. Therefore, you have cordially been invited to the Palace of Bordwell for next week (once reparations around the Palace are fixed). You shall be escorted to the Palace from the airport and go through a parade to celebrate the return of King William and Princess Alexandra, and also to express our gratitude towards your actions. Once you arrive at the Palace, you shall be in a ceremony where King William himself will award you and will honour you with a Gala. You are free to invite any friends and your family members to the Gala. I hope this letter is enough to present our greatest and deepest gratitude to you all._

_Sincerely,_

_The Palace of Bordwell_"

Everyone stayed speechless. Haddock said "… Blistering Barnacles."

Jacq said, "Yes, 'Blistering Barnacles' indeed!"

**A/N** Dang! What a chapter! If some of the stuff seem to go on too quickly, then I'm sorry for that.

Anyway, please read and review!


	12. Best day ever

**Chapter 12: Best day ever**

While Tintin was in the hospital recovering, Jacq had time to pick out an outfit for the Gala. She found a feminine cream-coloured suit with a pink shirt to match for the parade and the ceremony, and she also found a white evening gown for the Gala. Tintin was supposed to leave the hotel in about a week's time, but managed to get out of bed perfectly fine after a few days.

A week had passed and they were on their way to Bordwell. On the plane, they saw the beautiful country of Bordwell. Wide mountains from the countryside, and then small villages from a distance. Then they were landing. Jacq said, "Oh boy! We're almost there!" It was exciting to be in a parade, but it felt even more exciting the fact that it was in their honour. She wore the outfit she bought the other week and had done her hair, which looked soft and wavy this time. She put on a bit of make-up, but would put on more make-up when she arrived at the palace. However, she was a bit upset that her parents couldn't make it to Bordwell. She was told they were stuck in Italy, and would have to resort to seeing her at the ceremony on TV.

They arrived at the airport where Royal guards escorted them to an elegant carriage. The Thom(p)sons followed them in the car right behind them. They were taken to the main street across the river and saw many people cheering for them. Tintin held Snowy in his arms to get a better view of Bordwell. Jacq waved her hands happily like a little kid being taken to an amusement park, but then she got tired waving her arms. After about an hour of the parade and coming past the most grand and beautiful monuments of Bordwell, they arrived at the Palace of Bordwell. They crossed the golden gates where they reached the entrance. From afar they saw the King and Princess to welcome them to their home.

"Honoured guests! You had a safe trip to the Palace?" said the King.

Tintin said, "Yes, your Majesty. Thank you so much for the welcome."

"No, no, Mr. Tintin," said the King. "The pleasure is ours. If you and your friends hadn't helped us, we wouldn't be here to celebrate our return. And speaking of which, Miss Jacqueline?"

Jacq said, "Yes?"

"There's something else for you." They were escorted inside and Jacq saw a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes who resembled Jacq, and a masculine father with the same dark curly hair and brown eyes as Jacq. "MOM! DAD!" She ran up to her parents and hugged them. "Oh Jacq," said her mother, "We've missed you so much!" The father kissed her in the head and whispered, "We're so proud of you."

After a long and warm hug, Jacq let go of them and asked, "So what happened? I thought you were stuck in Italy."

"Well then this wouldn't be a surprise, wouldn't it?" said her dad. "You should have seen the look on your face!"

"Yeah, very funny, dad. I thought you weren't gonna make it! Anyway," Jacq brought her parents to her new friends and introduced each other, "I want you to meet my new friends. Tintin, Snowy and the Captain. Guys, these are my parents, Martin and Diana Jones."

Martin shook his hand, "Oh boy! I can't believe it! Mr. Tintin in person! I heard that you've read my books! Did you read 'The Broken Eagle'? The one with Timothy Vale? He's inspired by you!"

"I did. It's very underrated. I think it's because people are more familiar with 'The Grey Sky' series. They're also really good."

"Holy Moly! He read 'The Grey Sky' series! Did you hear that?"

"That's enough, Martin," said his wife patting him in the shoulder. He blushed.

She said, "Jacq, I couldn't be any more proud of you than I am today… By the way, your hair looks amazing. You did that yourself? Wow, where did you get that suit? I want one of those. Ooh! I wonder if that tailoring place can make me that exact suit? But in black, because black's more elegant for my age." The music starts playing. "Ops, I think we gotta go."

"Yes, we'll have plenty of time to talk to each other later," said the King. "But first, we need to get you in the Throne Room. Everyone's awaits."

As they walked to the Throne Room, Tintin thought to himself, "Now I know where Jacq got all that fast talking and all that energy." Jacq whispered to him, "My mom just gets excited about fashion and beauty. And my dad gets really inspired by your stories. Just in case you wanted to know."

They opened the doors to see a large green and red Throne Room. "I've always loved the details in this place!" said Diana. "All the greens and reds and silvers and everything! We have to buy another apartment and redecorate it like this!" They stood where they could see their daughter being awarded.

Tintin looked around the crowd from the other side of the hall. Next to Jacq's parents, he spotted Signora Castafiore and Professor Calculus with Nestor and the detectives.

"Jacq, look over there." Jacq took a look and looked at the person Tintin was pointing at. "Do you see next to Signora Castafiore? That's Professor Calculus."

"Can't wait to meet him!" Jacq remembered that the Professor was a very good friend of theirs and even remembered the fact that he created the rocket ship that brought them to the moon! This day was getting more and more excited by the minute! Then the music in the hall started playing. As the musical band played the national anthem of Bordwell, the King and Princess went across the hall. "Ladies and Gentlemen! Our King William James Monroe and our Princess Alexandra Elizabeth Monroe! Returning to their Palace once again!" Everyone happily applauded for their return.

After they crossed the hall, the voice said again, "And now, our honoured guests: the brave heroes who helped and saved the Royal Family!"

Tintin, Haddock, Snowy and Jacq went through the hall while the people applauded. They reached the King and Princess where they stood in front of them. William spoke, "People of Bordwell. Honoured guests. Ladies and Gentlemen. We are gathered here today, not for our return, but to honour and celebrate the three courageous people: Mr Tintin, Mr Archibald Haddock and Miss Jacqueline Jones! And their brave dog Snowy, of course." William brought over three golden medals with the golden seal in front of it.

"I award the highest honour we can give you to remember what you've done for us. The Arnaud Hepburn Prize!" He put on a medal for each one. The audience applauded at them. Diana said, "Oh, I can't believe my baby is being awarded!"

"I can't believe she saved a country!"

"I can't believe she made friends with Tintin and went on an adventure with him!"

"I can't believe Tintin read 'The Grey Sky' series!"

"Honey, cut it out," she said nudging him.

Xxx

After the ceremony, the three heroes and Snowy went to a living room where they found Professor Calculus, Castafiore and the detectives with Jacq's parents. Jacq was introduced to Tintin and Haddock's friends. "Cuthbert," said Haddock, "Good to see you again! I'd like you to meet someone!"

"Very well, thank you," said the Professor, "Aren't you going to introduce me to the lovely lady?"

"Er… Cuthbert, this is our friend Jacqueline."

"Chicken? No, I didn't eat chicken. Why do you ask?"

"JACQUELINE! HER NAME IS JACQUELINE!" He screamed at the deaf professor.

The professor ignored that and turned to Jacq, "It's an honour to finally meet you. I've heard that you're Miss Jacqueline," he said and kissed her hand. Haddock's face turned red. The Professor continued, "And this must be your parents, the famous Martin and Diana Jones. I've read all your books."

"Really?" said Martin excited. "Which one's your favourite?"

"Splendid! But would you like to know which is my favourite? It's from the 'Grey Sky' series, 'Dinner at Hardey's'."

Soon, the King and Princess joined in the group and they all took their time to talk to each other for about 4 hours. They had a long conversation about each other and about their lives, and then Alexandra urged them to talk about their adventure from beginning to end. Tintin and Jacq talked in so much detail that the Captain had little to add to their adventure.

After they finished, they realised they spoke for so long that the sun was already going down. It was time to get ready for the Gala. Before Alexandra and her father went upstairs to get themselves ready, Alexandra turned back and said, "Take your time. Rest before the Gala. And once again, I couldn't thank you enough for everything."

They all stood up to do the same thing. "Come on, Jacq," said her mother. "Let's go and get you in your dress! Oh! I wanna do your make-up so badly!" She said excitedly. "You'll look beautiful!"

"Thanks mom."

The ladies had their rooms in a corridor upstairs in the palace, with Jacq's parents sharing a room with each other. The rest of the guests had their rooms in a different corridor. As they were about to walk towards Jacq's room, Haddock said, "Ah, what a great day! As they always say, all's well, end's—AH!" He slipped and fell on his back. "Blistering Barnacles!"

"Did you slip over something?" asked Tintin helping him up.

"No, I just decided to fall down and hurt myself. Of course I slipped over something!" he said standing up and rubbing his back. Tintin looked down on the floor. He noticed bluish goo on the floor. He observed it and smelled it. "It looks like soap." The he noticed there was more leading towards a room. "There's more over there."

"Hey, it's going to my room," said Jacq. Then she slapped her palm towards her forehead. "Oh no! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"

"What's wrong?" asked Tintin. She ran towards her room and her mother followed her.

"But what is the girl so worried about?" asked Thompson.

"To be precise, what's to worry about the girl?" asked Thomson.

"OH NO! MY BAG WAS LEAKING!" said Jacq out loud. They decided to enter and check it out. Jacq's items in her bag were covered in blue shampoo, conditioner and soap. Jacq took out something at the very bottom. She held her white evening gown half-covered in blue. The dress was ruined. "Geesh, I knew I shouldn't have taken all that shampoo from the hotel!"

"Oh dear! The poor girl," said the Professor.

"I'm sorry, Jacq," said her mother. "I didn't bring any other dress for you. I should have."

"Then that's settled!" said Castafiore. Everyone looked at her. "Let's go ask the Princess if she can lend you a dress."

"No wait! Signora, you don't have to help me out! I don't think-"

"No, no, no! You either accept my offer or accept my offer! I don't take 'no thank you' for an answer. Come along, Jacqueline." Jacq looked at Tintin. "Go on," said Tintin implying that it'd be rude to refuse, and that Alexandra might be able to help. Jacq and her mother followed Castafiore. Tintin said, "Well, in the meantime I'll give Snowy a bath."

Snowy thought, "Oh no! I already had one a few days ago at the hospital! Please be kind to me, Tintin!" Tintin went to his room with a bathroom inside. "Wait! Don't leave me alone with him!"

"Stop moving around, Snowy. Don't you want to look good for the Gala? Please, do it for me."

"Ok, fine. I don't care if you saved a country again. I still think you're cruel."

The women soon reached Alexandra's room and knocked on her door. "Come in," said Alexandra. They opened the door to see Alexandra in a beautiful deep-blue sparkly dress and long white gloves. She had her hair and make-up done. There was a woman sewing up the final touches on her dress and Mathilde was holding her diamond necklace and tiara. "Signora! What can I do for you?"

"I'm afraid we have a problem. Dear Jacqueline had an accident with her dress, and now she has nothing to wear. Is there any way you can help?"

"Yes, certainly! You can borrow one of my dresses! Mathilde, go get a few evening dresses from the furthest closet!"

"Yes, Alexandra." Jacq felt a bit weird for someone doing all of this for her. Then Mathilde carried a few dresses and left it on top of the Princesses bed. "How about this one?" Mathilde asked holding a nice blue one.

"Umm… not to offend you, but it's not really my kind of dress…" said Jacq still a bit doubtful.

"That's entirely fine. What about this?" she said holding a pink dress. It was Jacq's favourite color, and it was a very nice dress, but she felt strange asking to borrow a dress from a Princess. "Don't be shy, Jacq. Go ahead," said her mother. Jacq responded, "Yeah, that's really nice. Umm…"

"AHA! This one is perfect for you!" Mathilde lifted the next dress.

"No, you don't have to—" Then Jacq saw the dress and her mouth dropped. Jacq wanted to say 'Holy Guacamole', but she was just speechless. It was a beautiful silky lavender evening gown.

"I believe we have a winner," said Mathilde. "We finally convinced her, didn't we?"

Diana said, "It's beautiful! You'll look gorgeous in this!"

Jacq said, "No! Wait! I can't… you don't have to…"

"No, Jacq," said the Princess, "I insist. I said I couldn't thank you enough, so this is my way of thanking you even more. Believe me, you've earned it."

Jacq smiled. "Thank you so much."

"So now that, let's call the other tailor to fit you in, ok? You're about the same size as me, I remember? Mathilde, do we still have that peridot necklace? It'll match perfectly with the dress!"

Diana said quickly, "Hey, any of you can do her hair, but I'm doing her make-up!"

Xxx

Later, the gentlemen had already gotten themselves ready Tintin already given Snowy his bath and waited in the corridor for the women to be ready. Snowy asked himself "Why does it always take so long for women to get ready?"

Martin decided to talk to Tintin. "Wow, I just can't believe it!" Tintin turned his head towards Martin. "Well, that I'm meeting you, but mainly that my daughter went with you… on an adventure! And practically saved a country!"

"Yes, it is amazing. Jacq's amazing," said Tintin.

"I was a bit worried, though."

"About what?"

"Well, about a lot of things. The fact that she didn't tell us she was disguising as Alexandra. She usually tells us everything. But I guess she would have told us later. Also the story you told us sounded frightening! I thought Jacq would have been in real trouble, or would have gotten herself hurt, but I was proven wrong. And that thing she did in India… that was incredible. That was so brave! She genuinely surprised me. I couldn't have been more proud of my daughter than I am today." Tintin noticed how similarly Jacq spoke like her father.

"Yes, it's true," said Haddock, "That lassie is stronger than I imagined. I thought it was crazy for her to come with us, but she managed to surprise me as well." Tintin smiled. It felt great to know the Captain now saw her that way.

"Tintin," Martin continued, "If you weren't there for Jacq, she wouldn't have gone this far. I have to also thank you for keeping her out of danger. I don't know what I'd do without her."

Then Castafiore went outside with a dark mauve dress. "Hello, gentlemen. Diana is ready, but they're adding finishing touches on Jacq. The dress is just magnificent, and Jacqueline looks unbelievable!"

Soon, Diana in a pretty green dress came out and said, "She's ready!" They all anticipated to see her.

Jacq came out with the lavender dress, the green jewels around her, her hair up and her make-up done. Everyone looked at her with eyes wide open and with great awe.

"Che bella donna!" said Castafiore.

"Splendid! Stellar!" said Professor Calculus.

"Is that my daughter? Is that MY daughter? Diana, do you recognise her?" said Martin making Jacq laugh. "You look amazing! And what a dress!"

"This was deinitely worth the wait!" thought Snowy.

She walked toward the men. Haddock said, "My! My! What a beauty!" Then he noticed Tintin walk past him. "Tintin?" asked Haddock. Tintin stood in front of Jacq. He looked at her from top to bottom. He then grabbed her hand and said with a smile, "Wow… I mean… just wow… I mean look at you! You look..." He look straight into her eyes, "You look beautiful."

Jacq's heart was beating fast. "Thanks, Tintin… So! You guys looks great too!" she said to everybody. "What are we waiting for? Let's go to the Gala!"

Xxx

The Gala stretched out from the outside of the Palace to the hall. People were having their food from the buffet from the dining hall, and others waltzed around to the music. Some members of the press were allowed to enter to take a few pictures. William and Alexandra spent the whole night talking to their distant family members, glad to finally see them again. As the honoured guests and their friends walked in, a few people mistook Jacq for the Princess, but soon realised that she was one who disguised herself as Alexandra to protect the country.

Much to the Captain's misfortune, Castafiore pulled him to dance with him. Although this time he refused to complain. After all, she did make a really good deed for Jacq and it was a time of celebration. Jacq decided to dance with her father for a while. Tintin realised he never noticed how amazing Jacq looked like as she was dancing with her father.

Diana said, "Hey," Tintin looked at her. "Go as her to dance."

"Sorry?"

"You want to dance with Jacq, don't you? I don't think Martin will mind. Unless you don't want to."

Tintin's body shook. As Jacq to dance? It felt strange for some reason. For some reason he felt very stiff. Diana saw him struggling, so she just gave him a push, "Just move."

Tintin almost tripped over, but then proceeded to walk towards Jacq and her father. He stood right in front of them giving a big gulp. Why was he this anxious? He never felt this way before. How could he have trouble asking his friend to dance?

Then Jacq and Martin noticed him. "Yeah?" asked Jacq.

Tintin cleared his throat and spoke with a straight face, "Jacq… would you like to dance with me?"

Jacq stood there speechless. Tintin though he probably said something weird for her. Martin then gave her a small nudge. "YES! I mean… yeah." She let go of her dad to dance with Tintin. Martin grabbed Diana and danced with her. For a few minutes they were waltzing around the room and Tintin no longer felt nervous. Tintin and Jacq smiled at each other.

Jacq hoped that she wasn't blushing through the make-up. But the more she danced with Tintin, the less she cared. She was at her happiest. She turned her head to the side about to lean on his chest, but then noticed that people were looking at them, and few people from the press were taking photos of them. For a second she forgot there were a lot of people in the room. "What is it?" asked Tintin. Jacq said, "Everybody's staring at us."

"… Huh?"

"Right now. They're looking at us. And taking photos of us."

Tintin looked around as well. Tintin and Jacq seemed to stand out in the group of dancers. "Oh, I didn't notice that."

"It feels weird… people staring at me. Always made me feel uneasy." Jacq was always a bit uncomfortable with people staring at her, or people taking too many photos of her, but this time she felt safer around Tintin.

"If you want to, we can go outside for fresh air."

"Really?"

"Sure, why not?"

Tintin grabbed her away from the dancers and they went outside to the garden. Martin and Diana looked at their daughter and Tintin go away. Martin said, "Dang it. They stole my idea."

"Let them go, Martin."

"I know. I know."

Now it was just Tintin and Jacq. They sat down in a rose garden of roses of every possible kind (at least that's what Jacq believed), and were underneath a diamond sky. "Wow… it's so beautiful here," said Jacq. "Look at the stars! Tintin, I've never been so happy in my entire life."

"Me neither… I mean! Umm…" Tintin felt a bit shaky. It must have been the breeze. Then he noticed how cold it was and Jacq didn't have anything to cover herself with. "Here, take my jacket."

"Nah, it's not that cold. I'm ok. Actually… I'm better than fine. I feel like myself again for the first time, but much better." She looked at Tintin who looked away. He was turning red, possibly from the cold. "Tintin… I know I've probably said this a billion times before: I'm so glad I met you and the Captain and Snowy." Tintin looked at her. "Really, you don't know what it means to me… Thank you. Not just for saving me so many times and not just for last week. You didn't have to come with me to India, you didn't have to complement me so much, and you didn't have to save me so many times… but you did. Thank you for giving me the chance to meet you, Tintin."

"You know what? I'm glad I met you too." They smiled at each other.

"Tintin? There's something I've been meaning to tell you. I was very scared at first, but now I'm not."

"… Really?"

"Yeah."

"Well, then… what is it?"

Jacq took a deep breath and said, "… I want to be a filmmaker… I mean my dream is to become a successful filmmaker. Maybe write scripts or produce movies… maybe eventually direct. Am I talking too fast?"

"No, not at all. So that's what you wanted. Is that why you took the job as an extra? To get experience in filmmaking?"

"That's correct," she said calmly. "So once I get back to America, I'm gonna try and convince the owner to give me a chance at filmmaking. Believe me, the executive producer is kinda… scary. I guess that's another reason I was afraid to go forward. But if I can save a country, then I can get that job, right?"

"I'm sure you will."

"Yeah, I'm planning to work hard for it. I may have never done a film, but I'll do whatever it takes to learn. Who knows? Maybe I will make fantastic films. I learned something from my parents once… if I'm able to influence others, then I know I've earned success. So I want to influence others through my films."

Tintin smiled at Jacq, "Jacq… you're just amazing. You know that?" Jacq looked at him. He continued, "It's such a shame you have to leave so soon. I wanted you to visit Marlinspike Hall."

"I know. I really do want to visit Marlinspike… there's just something I gotta do first."

"I understand."

With that, they gave each other a long warm hug. "_I'll miss you_," He whispered to her.

"_I'll miss you too_," she whispered back.

CRASH!

"GEESH!" said Jacq. They let go of each other surprised by the crash inside the Palace. They ran inside and noticed one of the chandeliers broken down. It was Thompson and Thomson who knocked it down with their canes. "Say, Thompson, don't you have déjà vu?"

**A/N** I think this is the longest chapter so far. I love this chapter!

Sorry about no kiss. But you'll see it… sometime. I promise.

You know what would have been really tragic and dramatic? That Jacq's parents actually did die from the place crash and Jacq thinking that they were alive was all in her mind… ouch. The reason I'm not doing that is because this is The Adventures of freaking Tintin! It's not a drama or some soap opera!

Anyway, hoped you liked it. Please leave a comment! Stay tuned for the epilogue!


	13. Epilogue

**Chapter 13: Epilogue**

It was finally time for Jacq and her parents to get back to America. Jacq had to leave that day to continue working, but she was also planning to ask the executive producer for a place in the studio. She had a feeling she would have lots to do there.

Jacq and her parents said her goodbyes to the King and Alexandra. Thompson and Thomson went to say goodbye to Jacq and her parents. Jacq also thanked the detectives for protecting her when she was in disguise. Calculus and Castafiore also said their goodbyes. Castafiore said, "Oh, how I will miss you all so! I shall sing a song for your departure!" She started singing at the top of her lungs, and once again Haddock and Snowy started to suffer. Tintin interrupted her loud voice and said, "Signora, I think they'll be late for the flight. You can sing to them another time."

"Good bye, Jacqueline. We have to meet up again," said Calculus.

"I'm sure to remember," said Jacq.

"In December? That's entirely fine with me."

Tintin, Haddock and Snowy planned come with them to the airport and say goodbye there. As they were in the car on their way to the airport, Jacq looked outside the window and started reflecting on everything that happened the past few weeks. Her accepting to disguise herself as Alexandra, her bumping into the Captain and Tintin for the first time on that boat, her getting kidnapped and saved various times, her travelling with Tintin on that flight to India, that day when she hung out with Tintin, Haddock and Snowy, the adventure they had in India, the actions she took in India, her allowing the bad guys to kidnap her and take her to Spain, that moment when she fell down the hill with Tintin and confessed her feelings to herself, her sticking by the hospital room with Tintin and finally that day where she was honoured by the Royal Family of Bordwell and dancing with Tintin that night. It was amazing that everything was ending so soon. This all felt like a dream.

She chuckled. "The people back home aren't gonna believe me when I tell them what happened."

"Don't worry," said Tintin. "By the time you arrive back, everyone will know about it from the news." Jacq was happy about the whole idea of everyone knowing. She was still a bit upset that she was leaving so soon.

At the airport, Haddock said goodbye to Jacq and her parents. He never realised how much he was going to miss Jacq. "It was great finally meeting you all," said Martin. "An honour actually."

"It really was," said Diana. "Oh Geesh! Our plane is leaving! Come on, Jacq. Say goodbye to them and get to the plane!" Diana and Martin grabbed their bags and started running up to the plane.

Haddock asked, "Will we be able to visit you sometime?"

"Sure, Captain," she said. "I will be pretty busy around the movie studio, but if none of us are too busy, you can visit me soon."

"Will you send us letters?" asked Tintin.

"Yeah! Every week! Or every month if I'm too busy… But I will send you letters. Once I'm done with what I have to do, I'll visit you guys at Marlinkspike. I promise!"

"We'll send you letters too. I can't wait for you to come and visit us at Marlinspike Hall. I'll really miss you."

"I miss you already."

"I hope it goes well in America," said Haddock.

"Thanks. Goodbye, Captain. Goodbye, Snowy." She gave a big hug to the Captain and then hugged Snowy. The plane was starting to leave. "Jacq, are you coming?" shouted Diana from afar.

"In a minute! So… I guess this is goodbye, Tintin."

"I guess so too… Have a safe trip…" Tintin and Jacq gave each other a long hug. It was hard for them to let each other go. Then the flight attendant kept calling her. She let go of Tintin and said, "Well… take care, you guys…" She picked up her bag. "See you around…"

Jacq slowly turned away and went up the plane. She didn't realise how hard it was to say goodbye. It was so hard to believe that she wasn't going to see Tintin and his friends for a long time…

But midway through, she stopped herself…

"Well, in that case," Jacq dropped her bag, ran down and went towards Tintin. She grabbed his head and gave him a big kiss on the cheek!

Jacq let go of him and saw a big look of surprise. Jacq gave a big smile. "SEE YA!" She ran back to the plane and took her bag up. Her heart was beating extremely fast! "I can't believe I did that!"

With that, the plane closed its doors and starting moving away. As they saw the plane going away, Tintin gently rubbed his cheek. No one had ever done anything like that before. "Great Snakes…"

"You're a lucky man, Tintin," thought Snowy. Haddock knew that Jacq had feelings for Tintin, but now he realised something was happening to the young man as well. Perhaps it was love.

In the plane, Diana and Martin congratulated their daughter. Jacq said, "I had to! I wasn't gonna see him for a long time!"

"Well, Jacq, I didn't know you had it in there," said Diana. "You really have become a woman!" Jacq thought about it. Maybe she did change for the better.

"So, does Tintin know that you like him?" asked Martin. "Did you actually tell him?"

"Kinda. I'm not sure if he exactly knows."

"Why aren't you gonna tell him yet?"

She looked out the window at Tintin, Haddock and Snowy. While the Captain was waving back at her, Tintin still had his hand against his cheek. "I will. But first I wanna convince the guys at the film studio to give me a chance at filmmaking." She waved back at them as the plane started to leave. Diana asked, "So you want to prove to Tintin that you have talent… am I right?"

"Umm… not exactly. I'm really doing this for myself. I need to work hard for my dream and not let anything distract me. So right now, I'm not ready for him yet. I'll see him again as soon as I am ready."

"Good for you, Jacq. Come on! Let's celebrate right now!" He raised up Jacq's arm up. "To Jacqueline Marie Jones' first kiss!"

"Thanks, Dad! I never thought I'd be able to do it, but I ran up to him and kissed him right on the cheek!"

Martin's expression changed. "… You what?"

"You didn't kiss him on the lips?" asked Diana whose expression also changed.

"No, why not?"

Diana and Martin looked at each other. Martin lowered her arm. Diana said, "Honey, it's not a first kiss if it's not on the lips."

"Huh?"

Martin said, "You kissed him on the cheek. That doesn't count as a first kiss."

"…So, you're saying I should have kissed him in the lips?"

"Yes! That's what you're supposed to do when you're in love!" said Diana.

Martin said, "You know, for a girl who loves films, I'm surprised you didn't follow that movie cliché. It's like in every single romance."

Jacq started to realise what she had done. "… Holy guacamole, I messed it up!"

"Don't worry, Jacq, you can kiss him next time."

"But mom! What if there isn't a 'next time'? What if I never get to see him again?" Jacq left her seat, "Stop the plane! I forgot something!"

The flight attendant tried to tell Jacq to sit down on the take-off, but Jacq was starting to freak out. "No wait! I gotta do something!"

Sadly, it was too late as the plane had already flown off. Tintin saw the plane fly away. Haddock asked him something expecting a response, "Tintin? You've been very quiet."

Right now, Tintin couldn't think of anything else but Jacq. He was wondering when he was ever going to see her again. But he remembered what she said the other night, "_There's just something I gotta do first._" He did understand. However long it takes for her to start her career and no matter how long it takes, Tintin will give his support and will cheer for her every step of the way, even if it means just sending it through letters. In the meantime, he'll be waiting.

"_I'll visit you guys at Marlinkspike. I promise!_" As long as it takes, he'll wait for Jacq. That'll be his promise.

Tintin looked at his friend with a grin. He said, "Let's stay around Bordwell for a few days. I have a feeling we need a holiday!"

Snowy happily panted. He thought, "It's about time! I just hope that no trouble comes to us while we're on a break!"

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

**A/N** There you have it! The last chapter of _How I met Tintin_!

I'm kinda sad too that they don't exactly kiss yet. I thought a kiss on the cheek was more suited to the story. BUT, don't freak out: There's a new fanfic coming soon! Will they kiss? You will see.

Thank you guys for sticking around all this time! I feel so happy you guys read my fanfic! And I hope you stick around my next fanfic. Wanna know the premise? You wanna know? You wanna know? Fine, I can't give you a Tintin+Jacq kiss right now, but I can give you a little idea of my next fanfic:

Tintin, Snowy, Haddock and Professor Calculus take a trip to America and visit Jacq. She couldn't be happier to see them again, especially Tintin, after such a long time. Although Tintin and Jacq's relationship is growing, it seems like there's a bigger problem than themselves: a mystery ahead that will threaten the very film studio.

This will take place after _Alph-Art_, but I'll use the Yves Rodier version as an official part of the chronology.

Once again, thanks everybody for reading and commenting! See you guys in my next fanfic! :D

_Signed,_

_Daniella the muggle_


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